Naruto : New Beginnings
by NarutoAkatsuki96
Summary: Naruto is adopted by Tsunade after an tumultuous journey of breaking through his emotional barriers. He is trained to be a medical ninja like her mother and possesses the Sharingan. How does it change everything when she brings out his talents as a medic and makes him into the prince is. Co authored by Narutoxsharingaxenthusiast. Read it once ;)
1. Chapter 1

_**~~~Naruto : New Beginnings~~~**_

* * *

 _ **Summary : Naruto is not taken care of by the Third Hokage as he should have. A sudden and surprising meeting with the only kunoichi of the Sannin changes his life forever. What will it lead to between the two? Will Tsunade be able to break through his shell and let him accept her? What secrets do Naruto** **'s heritage hold and how will it affect his life when he lives with the legendary Slug princess from a very young age?**_

* * *

 _ **Well read on to find out…**_

* * *

"Thank you, please come again!" the owner of the Dango stall owner waved his new customer with a bright smile. The customer himself waved back with a smile, opening the package in his hands to smell the heavenly scent of sweet dumplings.

Both of them went by their ways, unaware of a pair of baby blue eyes watching them intently, hiding in the corner of the nearby alley. He put his finger innocently near his lips, eyeing the freshly cooking food with a look of desperation. His stomach grumbled in anguish, making him bite his lip in nervousness.

" _I'm so hungry, it's been two days since I have found anything to eat in the garbage heaps."_ he thought sadly. He wanted to ask the man, if he could spare a stick for him, but he knew the man wouldn't give him. No one would ever help him, why he didn't know, but it was fairly certain in his mind.

" _Should I take it without telling him? But that would be stealing…"_ his thoughts trailed off uncertainly when another grumble came from his stomach, which was screaming for some food. Especially, after the heavenly looking food's smell had struck his nostrils.

" _It won't hurt him if I took a stick or two, he has so many. Plus, Kiara needs it too…"_ he thought, seeing the bags of ingredients by the man's side, while he let the dumplings cook slowly and called for some customers. The little boy tiptoed softly to the side of the stand, doing especially much to hide his shining bright golden locks. He glanced his head up slowly to see the man talking to a customer and turned his eyes to two sticks that were almost cooked and looked ready to eat now, packed in a plastic take away bag.

He gulped his hunger down and smiled, putting his hand out slowly and slipped the package containing the two skewers in his tiny hands. He crouched down and started to crawl away with a smile, thinking no one had noticed. But that was as far as his luck really went.

"THIEF! SOMEBODY CATCH THAT BOY! HE STOLE SO MUCH FROM ME!" the man shouted, making everyone in the district stop and turn to the owner of the stand. The curious eyes of passerby's followed his accusing finger pointed to the blonde boy, who himself was trembling in nervousness when he saw the hateful glares being sent his way. He saw one man picking up a bat and another picking up a shovel and he instantly dashed away into the alley he came from.

"CATCH HIM! THE DEMON IS SHOWING IT'S TRUE COLORS, LET'S GET RID OF HIM TODAY!" the owner of the stand shouted, giving the small group of people that were now forming a mob their much needed motivation. They chased the blonde blur into the alley, watching as he jumped over a bunch of crates with surprising agility and skidded down under a broken table.

Some of them stumbled from the obstructions, but two of them cleared them forcefully and followed the blonde, calling for their comrades in chase right behind the boy. Naruto glanced back and saw the man glaring at him murderously, having picked up a large pitchfork from the last alley and dashed away in another alley to take himself away from the main streets and avoid anymore attention. His eyes watered as he slipped past a garbage heap, almost stumbling, but caught himself and forced his weak legs to make up some more speed.

" _Please stop chasing me. It was just two skewers of dumplings, I'll pay them back after I have the money…"_ he thought in fright, but didn't say anything out loud. He knew from experience pursuers got even angrier whenever he said something to them, and yelled curses and death threats at him. His feet blurred through many small objects with well timed jumps and slides underneath small spaces. It was the only thing keeping the two off duty chunins from catching him that were chasing him like wolves going after their prey.

His breathing was ragged when he turned to watch the two lead pursuers not even winded out. He didn't have much energy left in his frail and malnutrition struck body. He was quick and agile, but he didn't have the energy to keep it up right now. Even with his legendary stamina, he needed the food to keep it up, which he had been devoid of completely for the last couple of days.

He turned around the end of the alley, and watched he had come into the main shopping district of the village. He glanced back to see the two lad pursuers point and snarl at him and he turned his eyes around, back to his front. He ran in front of a liquor store and saw a really pretty blonde woman come out with many bottles of sake in her hands while her face held a giddy smile in it. He tried to slip past her to her side, and into the next alley, but it didn't work out as he had expected it to.

His vision blurred slowly and faded into a whiteness, before he tried to regain focus only to see the world around him quite misty. His feet stumbled on themselves and he crashed into the blonde woman harshly.

"HOLY SHI-" she cursed out loud when a small blur ran into her stomach, and crashed straight into her. The numerous expensive liquor bottles stumbled and fell down on the ground, the shattering of glass ringing in everyone's ears, taking her to fall down on her butt along with them. Her hazelnut eyes focused in on the reason for her loss of such fine drinks in a murderous aura. Naruto got up hazily, his eyes focusing in on the world as he tried to regain his bearings.

He sat up on all fours, the glass of the many broken bottles embedding itself in his hands and legs. He winced and took the package of dumplings which was surprisingly still alright. He picked them up in his bloodied hands when the two pursuers were almost onto him.

"THERE HE IS! NOW WE'LL SHOW YOU, YOU THIEF!" one of them shouted, making Naruto's eyes widen before he stood up and dashed away again. His legs and hands screamed in agony from the pain of the embedded glass, but he didn't stop. He couldn't stop, for he knew what his fate would be if they caught him.

"HEY YOU! COME BACK HERE!" Naruto heard the third female and new voice, and winced when he pulled out a large piece of glass from his palm and turned into an alley again to throw off the three pursuers. Naruto looked on ahead and trembled in fright as he saw the end of the alley having nothing but a large wall in front of it. He turned around to see his two pursuers grinning evilly, and he choked back a sob. His bloodied palms outstretched themselves with the now blood covered package of food in his hands.

"Please take it back, I'm sorry." he spoke up shakily, with his trembling hands handing them the package back. Both of them laughed outright at his offer making his eyes water. He took a couple of steps back and hit the wall with his back when he saw them move forward to him.

"You think we care about those stupid dumplings? We are going to give you the time of your life today gaki. You shouldn't have shown your colors if you knew what was good for you." one of them said evilly, making his shimmering eyes watch the weapons in their hands being raised. He knew what would follow and how much it would hurt.

"Please let me go, I won't do it again. I promise." he pleaded softly to them with a choked sob and bit his lip when they cackled again at him.

"Yeah you're right about that. When we are done with you, you won't be able to do anything again demon." the second one said with a grin. He slid down across the wall, his body weakened even more from the numerous bloodied wounds. His mind turned hazy and his eyes showed him a milky white world. He didn't even register the first harsh blow in his chest when he passed out from complete exhaustion.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" a murderous female voice roared at the entrance of the alley. The two stopped their attacks at the lifeless yellow and red ball on the ground. Both turned to see Tsunade, standing there with rage filled eyes. She was leaking killing intent like none they had ever felt before.

"T-Tsunade-sama?!" one of them stuttered out, making her sharp eyes turn to him. He couldn't help but gulp, as visions of torture and death of hos own-self passed through his eyes before he fell unconscious. She turned her eyes to the second one who was on his knees and about to pass out from suffocation, when he felt a chop to his neck to put him out of his misery and fell down in a heap of dust. Tsunade turned her eyes to the end of the alley, and her eyes widened when she saw the state the little boy, no older that six or maybe seven was in.

She rushed to his side and pulled out the glass shards from his bruised body.

"Take….it…." she heard him whisper when he came to for a moment. She watched the clutched and bloodied packet in his small hand he was trying to hand her. She took it and opened it up to see two ruined skewers of dumplings and heard him mumble something more.

"I won't….steal…again…please let me go…it hurts…it really hurts…." he wheezed out in a whisper with heavy and strained breaths. Tsunade couldn't help but let a tear drop to see how his lifeless blue eyes which weren't even focused in completely on his surroundings, pleaded to her for mercy. She forgot all about her fear of blood in an instant, her arms scooped the small form of the boy up in her arms. She cradled him gently to not hurt the small boy even more than he was right now.

"Shh, it'll be alright. Sleep now." she cooed him softly, and watched his heavy eyelids drop completely when he fell limp in her arms. She held his small form in her arms gently. He looked so frail and light, almost as light as a feather. His golden locks still shone from some places where the blood from his head injuries hadn't seeped through.

Her eyes hardened to glaciers that only a shinobi of her caliber could possess, when she stood up and rushed past the streets. The people saw the only kunoichi in the Sannin squad, rush past them with a small body, barely recognizable as a boy, zoom her way past them. She entered the hotel she was staying in, and ran up the stairs at breath taking speeds towards the room she had booked.

Shizune was going about drinking he coffee and reading a scroll of medical ninjutsu, happily humming away while strolling in the room. She yelped out loud in a shriek when the door was blasted of it's hinges and flew straight past her face, embedding itself straight into the wall ahead.

Her saucer wide eyes saw the heel of her master come down, as she ran past her and straight into the bedroom with something strangely vague and familiar to her held in her arms. Her nose caught the scent of iron and her eyes widened even further to see wet and crimson blotches staining the floor where her master had stepped just now.

"Tsuna-" she trailed off when she was pushed to the side, courtesy of an irate Tsunade coming out of the bedroom.

"OUT OF THE WAY!" she roared, making Shizune gulp and stumble back. Shizune glanced at her master nervously, to see her almost perfectly fine, except her kimono blouse that was red in the front and reeked of blood.

"Tsunade-sama… were you attacked?" Shizune asked the blonde woman, who was rummaging through the closet like a madwoman.

"Damn it…SHIZUNE!" she roared, making the black haired girl stiffen immediately.

"Hai!" she said robotically, seeing those hazelnut eyes glaring at her.

"Fresh Towels, wet…NOW!" she ordered and the girl nodded. She went stumbling out of the the room to get some, while Tsunade re-entered the room and put a clean towel on the blonde boy's head, who lay unconscious on her bed.

She applied pressure on his head to stop the bleeding from his head wound, no doubt from a strike by the impact of a blunt object with his skull. She wiped off the blood and started pulling out the glass shards from his body to avoid any infections before she went on for further treatments.

"Tsunade-sama the tow…" Shizune trailed off when Tsunade had snatched the cloths away from her hands snippily.

"What took you so damn long?" she mumbled angrily, and raised a couple of her fingers up. Her fingers glowed green and she ran them along the side of the blonde's ragged clothes, slicing them cleanly, to give her access to his bodies hidden wounds. Shizune didn't even notice her master's lack of fear from seeing fresh blood, when both saw the body hidden underneath his clothes.

His small and unmoving form was barely anything like what a child his age should be. His body had bones protruding from them showing the state of his malnutritioned muscles and barely any fat was visible in his body. He was covered in bruises, that were freshly red, to some that were purple and showed they were a little older.

Tsunade snapped out of her musings and turned to glance at Shizune. Her apprentice was covering her mouth with her hands, and staring at the small boy with horror stricken eyes.

"Shizune, start working on the cuts and stop the bleeding. I'll take care of the rest." she commanded loudly making the raven snap out of her thoughts and nod instantly.

"Hai!" she exclaimed, and put her green glowing hands on the blonde's sliced and blood covered legs. Tsunade put her palms on his head, only to see some sort of healing factor accelerating her healing attempts by quite a large margin. She ran her hands down to his chest and hovered over the blue bruises. As soon as her hands passed the stomach, she felt a strange chakra fluctuation in the boy's coils before she resumed her healing on the boy.

Both master and apprentice examined his little body for an hour, before making sure that he was completely fine and moved away from their patient. Tsunade flopped down on the couch in the living room with tired sigh.

"Shizune, water…" she mumbled tiredly, as her apprentice put a glass of water in her hands. Tsunade gulped it down in one go and rubbed her temples with her head thrown back. She had gotten quite lax, to think she was exhausted just from a little healing.

"Tsunade-sama, who is he? Where did you find him?" Shizune asked, breaking her out of her thoughts and got another tired sigh from Tsunade. She recited her meeting with the blonde boy in her head, and didn't feel a bit of loss from her liquor bottles, having forgotten it in favor of the little life she had just saved.

"He ran into me when I came out of the liquor store. All my bottles were broken when his running form brashed into me suddenly and before I could say something, a couple of guys shouted that he was a thief and he took off. I had forgotten to pay the owner so I rushed to where he had gone after a few minutes when I had paid him off for the bottles. The two followers were beating down on him mercilessly, no doubt for stealing so I knocked them out with my killing intent and then took the boy here…" the blonde recited, making the black haired girl nod. But still something didn't click.

"But to beat a child down even if he stole, like that. Something isn't right Tsunade-sama…" Shizune surmised. Tsunade had an inkling of who the boy was with his whiskers, but she wasn't sure and it was good to keep it to herself for now.

"What did he steal Tsunade-sama?" she asked, trying to make sense and Tsunade closed her eyes and buried her face in her hands remembering the boy's last whispers and the look in his eyes.

"Two skewers of dumplings." she answered making Shizune gasp. Tsunade herself couldn't believe the punishment that had been dished out on the boy just for two dumplings.

"Just that?!" Shizune asked incredulously, and Tsunade nodded. It threw Shizune for a loop, and Tsunade stayed silent for a while, pondering on her own thoughts. But Shizune could see why he would steal them, when she remembered the state his malnutrition was causing to his body.

"He must have been quite hungry…" Shizune said softly, making Tsunade hum in agreement. Both knew the condition of the boy, it showed them how much he ate on a regular basis. Shizune eyed the buxom blonde curiously, who hadn't opened her eyes yet with a small smile. At least something nice had come out of the precarious situation she mused happily.

"But you got over your fear of blood Tsunade-sama." she said with a little happiness, and Tsunade smirked herself. Just seeing the little boy in that condition made her see visions of losing a loved one from the past, and she would have been damned if she had let him die.

Both ladies sat by the boy's bedside for hours, watching him breathe softly and rest his tired and mangled body to the fullest. Late in the night, the boy's consciousness came to and he flickered his eyes open.

He let out a soft moan in pain, making the two ladies jerk awake suddenly, only to see him trying to sit up. Tsunade watched the blanket fall off, and her eyes widened to see his torso devoid off any and all bruises now. It further solidified her assumptions on who the boy possibly was.

Naruto's wide curious eyes blinked themselves into focus when he took in his surroundings. He was in a warm bed with a blanket, and without any shirt on to top it off. He didn't feel any pain too like he should have from the beating he had taken. He turned around to see the two ladies staring at him curiously, before stiffening and scooting away unconsciously. He watched the two warily, to see what they wanted with him and then his eyes took in the blonde woman. He remembered her from earlier, she was really pretty when she was up close too.

"Where am I?" he asked softly, but in a guarded tone making the two woman smile. He still watched them warily, while Shizune decided to take the charge.

"You are in our hotel room, we brought you here because you were hurt and treated you." she explained, throwing the blonde boy in for a loop.

"Why would you treat me?" he asked innocently, making the two ladies blink at his question. Naruto couldn't understand why they did that, no one ever helped him, that was a fact everyone knew.

"Because you were hurt and needed our help. What else?" Tsunade explained in a soft voice, but Naruto was still confused.

"I still don't understand." he said, making the two ladies frown when they saw his honest confusion. It was like no one had ever helped him before, both thought unanimously. Naruto then realized something and nodded to himself.

"If it's about me breaking your bottles from earlier, I'm sorry." he apologized in his soft tone, that suddenly seemed a lot more scared and frightened.

"It's alr-" Tsunade was cut off as the blonde continued on his babbling.

"Look I'll pay you back when I have the money. I don't have it now, but I promise you I will…" he said and Tsunade tried to stop him, when both Tsunade and Shizune saw his eyes shimmer with unshed tears.

"Please don't hurt me, it was a mistake. I felt dizzy and weak and lost my balance. I didn't want to break them." he mumbled apologetically, making the two have no time to try and stop him. Tsunade decided to cut his confusion short, and spoke up to break up his scared mumbles.

"We do not want your money, so don't worry alright?" she said softly, to calm him down. But it did anything but what she had intended for the boy. His eyes widened and the unshed tears streamed down his eyes quickly, dropping on the blanket. He backed up into a corner and curled himself in a ball.

"No please not that, I promise I'll pay you soon. Just let me go." he whispered with a sniffle, making the two look at him with a lost look.

"Just… what? What are you saying?" Tsunade asked softly, when she saw his hell frightened expression. She tried to calm him down, but he was hiding himself even more from her.

"Please don't touch me, I don't like that. I'll give you the money…just not that…please…" he sobbed hysterically, making the two ladies grow even more concerned for the boy.

"Just what? Tell me, why don't you want me to touch you?" Tsunade cooed gently, and tried to sit closer to him, when she saw his eyes widen in horror and he clutched his knees tightly to his bare chest.

"Don't come any closer, I don't like that. I'll give you the money. Just don't touch me… it makes me feel…" he sobbed, as Tsunade sat a little away from him and looked at him with warm and caring eyes, which scared him even more on the inside.

"It makes you feel what?" she asked in a soft motherly voice, and gulped a sob when she saw the pure pain and anguish in his eyes.

"Dirty." he whispered in shame, making Shizune and Tsunade's eyes widen in horror. He couldn't mean what they thought he did, both thought at the same time. Tsunade stretched her hand forward, and watched him flinch when it touched him, as if she was made of acid.

"Don't touch me please…" he pleaded with a sniffle, making Tsunade's heart twist in a clench. She let a smile to reassure him grace her lips, and watched him like a mother would watch her child, increasing his fear ten folds unknown to her.

"It's alright…" she cooed softly, and put her hand over his when she met his wide eyes, and was about to coo him and calm him down even more when something unexpected happened.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" he roared in a scared voice, and let out a purple pulse of chakra. Tsunade saw his eyes turn crimson with two tomoes circling them wildly for a moment, only before she was launched back into the wall from the powerful pulse he let out of his whole body. Her back met the wall, and indented it with a bang, as she slid down with a groan.

"TSUNADE-SAMA!" Shizune shrieked at the unexpected event, and rushed to her downed master who was groaning in pain. Tsunade turned her eyes to the blonde, ignoring her aching head and watched him fall sideways,straight into another state of unconsciousness, no doubt from letting out all that chakra.

"I'm alright…" she mumbled, rubbing her throbbing head and caught Shizune's wrist, who was checking for injuries on her head. Black eyes met hazelnut ones to see Tsunade have a pure concerned expression in her eyes.

"Check on him Shizune, see if he didn't hurt himself…" she whispered and Shizune nodded, rushing back to the unconscious boy's side. Her hands glowed green, while she hovered them over his body to check up on him. She saw his wounds were already closed, so he didn't open any of them, but he had pushed out almost all of his chakra out unconsciously, and had fallen unconscious yet again. This time though, from chakra exhaustion.

"Tsunade-sama this isn't good…" she said out loud, as the buxom blonde made her way to her. She herself checked his condition, and knew what her apprentice meant in an instant.

"His body doesn't have the strength right now to recover from chakra exhaustion. We need to feed him something Shizune, anything…" she mumbled while running diagnostics over the boy's unconscious form.

"Shizune go and get me some energy drinks and food pills. We'll feed him in his sleep, to make him recover forcefully." she commanded, and Shizune hurried away with a nod. Tsunade brushed his head gently, to take off the blonde locks covering his eyes, and couldn't help but let her feminine side gush over how soft and silky they were. He looked so adorable sleeping like that, with his small purrs that he was letting every now and then, a little sleepily. The way his whiskers twitched slightly every few times she had stroked them gently, she had to resist the urge to just crush the boy in a hug.

Shizune came back with a few bottles of energy drinks issued to the ANBU Black Ops, and Tsunade's special blend of food pills in her other hand.

Tsunade placed the blonde's head on her lap gently, and watched him nuzzle in on the new-found warmth with a soft smile. She tickled his sensitive cheek with her finger, watching his whiskers twitch every now and then and let out giddy giggles. Shizune smiled watching her master play with the blonde as if she was a little girl. It had been so long since she had seen such a smile on her master's face.

"Tsunade-sama…" she called out, handing her the drinks and pills which the buxom blonde woman took with a grateful smile. Tsunade took out a pill and put it in his mouth, she raised his head up with her arm, and made him gulp it down with the energy drinks and threw the now emptied bottle aside. Both ladies sat on the bed by his side, each in deep thoughts of their own.

"What do you think he meant by that Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked suddenly. Tsunade didn't need to ask what she meant, since she herself was wondering what had happened to the boy to cause such fright, that too from just a mere calming touch by her. She had seen many traumatized children in her medical carrier but his reaction had been the most violent she had ever seen.

"I don't know Shizune…" she said in a completely lost voice. Her soft eyes staring at the blonde boy lovingly. She felt the need to know him more and help him out of his problems as much as she could. He was an innocent child, who was just all alone and needed a guiding hand to help him.

"I just don't know, but I'll find out. That's for sure…" she whispered making her apprentice smile at the pure determination shining in her eyes. She sat by an armchair to be there when the boy woke up, or she was pretty sure he would run off when he got the chance, without her getting to talk to him.

* * *

 _ **~~~Next Morning~~~**_

* * *

The sun shone in the distance, while it's rays trickled past the windows in the room where two blonde's slept their way. Tsunade's eyes flickered open, and focused on the boy who was curled up in a ball to snuggle in the warmth his bed was providing him. Tsunade couldn't help but gush how cute his soft purrs were when he slept, no matter how long she looked and heard them.

Shizune stepped in the room with a yawn, and handed Tsunade a cup of coffee that she took with a grateful smile. Tsunade wondered how to go about trying to peel off the defenses that the little boy had built up all around him. They couldn't even get close to him without scaring him off.

"Tsunade-sama why isn't he in the orphanage? Shouldn't the village be taking care of him like every other child?" Shizune asked and Tsunade glanced at her before turning her eyes back to the blonde. Another point in favor for her guess to his identity she mused and shook her head.

"I don't know Shizune, but I'm going to file out all the information the village has on him when I go and settle my account problems with Sarutobi-sensei today." she said in a firm tone, making her apprentice nod her affirmative at her answer.

Tsunade didn't want to make any guesses before she was absolutely sure of who he was. Her eyes trailed down to the torn off shirt kept by the side of his bed, and then back to Shizune while she nodded to her to gain her attention.

"Shizune take my wallet and get him a pair of clothes before he is up. We'll change him up into them, he can't go on roaming about like that." she said and Shizune nodded with a bright smile. Tsunade giggled seeing her daughter-like apprentice jump off with a hop in her feet. The girl adored children and loved shopping for them. She herself was worst for the children she adored, and would have gone herself, but she didn't want to leave him alone when he woke up.

* * *

 _ **Author's notes :- This is the first chapter of my first story. Please review it and tell me how you feel about it. Naruto will be paired up with someone that I will decide in the future, but rest assured it won't be Sakura. It will mainly be about how Tsunade breaks through his emotional barriers and gets him to be close to her. Expect quick updates for the next few chapters if I get enough honest reviews and responses from readers. So I'll see you next time then.**_

* * *

 _ **PS :- Please forgive any mistakes I might have made, this is my first story so be a little lenient but do criticize any mistakes in reviews, I'll be sure to read all of them.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**~~~Naruto : New Beginnings~~~**_

* * *

Tsunade sat there for a couple of hours, downing another three cups of coffee in the meanwhile, when the ball of blanket on the bed in front of her wriggled awake. Shizune stood by the door and smiled when she watched the cute boy yawn equally cutely, while he rubbed his eyes sleepily. Naruto blinked and his mind came to, when he saw the two ladies by his side and clutched his blanket to his chest nervously. He looked down when he felt some foreign clothes, that felt quite nice, now over his body.

He looked down to see his burnt red T-shirt with a black Leaf symbol and dark blue pants and looked back at the two smiling ladies nervously.

"Why am I in these clothes?" he asked in that same guarded tone, making their smiles slip a bit. Tsunade though, gave him a warm grin and spoke up.

"Well your older clothes were cut off by me to treat your wounds. So we replaced them and put those on. You like them?" she asked curiously, making the blonde look at her warily. He looked down and ran a hand over his new shirt, it felt so nice and soft. He hadn't ever worn something so nice and then reminded himself they weren't his.

"I'll return them to you when I…" he was cut off when Tsunade giggled and waved her hand dismissively.

"Don't worry about it, we bought them for you. They are for you, keep them. What are us two ladies going to do with them anyways?" she asked, making him look at her with those same wary eyes. He couldn't understand this lady for the life of him. She was making him quite vulnerable and scared, and he didn't like that one bit.

"They look expensive, I can't pay you…" he said softly, making Tsunade frown at his desperate tone.

"You don't have to pay, they are yours…" she said firmly, to state her point quite clearly. She watched the blonde contemplating the strange situation nervously. Naruto hadn't ever met someone so nice to him before, but he knew from experience that nothing ever came free. If it looked too good to be true, then usually it was.

"What do you want in return then? Nothing is free for me. I don't have much, but I do have a necklace I found…" he trailed off, when Tsunade's hand covered his own, making him look at her innocently.

"You don't need to pay, they are a gift from us." she said in her same soft and motherly tone. Naruto felt his chest warm and a small smile graced his lips, before he pulled his hand back nervously and scooted away from her, reminding himself to be on guard. Tsunade thought she had broken down his barriers quite nicely, but cursed inwardly when she saw the boy scoot away from her just as before. All her efforts in vain, she sighed inwardly at her failure.

Naruto realized he didn't feel hungry any longer and rubbed his stomach in confusion. Did hunger die too if he stayed hungry for too long? This was a first, he thought in an innocent confusion that only a child his age could have. Tsunade saw his actions and knew what he was thinking.

"We fed you a food pill, so you wouldn't have to recover on an empty stomach. Here have this, this is a nutrition pill. It'll be good for you." she said softly, handing him the pink colored pill. He took it and sniffed it softly, instantly smiling at the sweet scent it had. Tsunade smiled herself, she had prepared them with a special recipe that made it taste like berries. Not like the crap the village mass produced for it's shinobi forces.

Naruto knew if they wanted to give him something bad to eat, they could have given it to him in his sleep instead of the food pill she was talking about. Plus, he was too hungry right now to argue so he popped it in his mouth and munched it happily. He never got anything really serious from the 'funny food' he got sometimes from strangers. Only a mild stomach ache which went away in a short amount of time.

Shizune giggled when he let out a content sigh and the innocent smile he had on his face. Tsunade too grinned that he liked her special recipe so much. Maybe this would help her gain his trust, she pondered on silently.

"It contains nutrients for six meals worth of food. So don't worry about eating for a while, until at least day after tomorrow." she explained making Naruto's eyes widen in surprise.

"They must be expensive then…" he murmured making Tsunade frown. The boy took nothing for granted, it seemed to her. And she didn't like that attitude of his one bit.

"It's alright, I make them myself so no worries alright?" she asked softly and he nodded hesitantly. Tsunade though rose an eyebrow when he was looking around, as if looking for an exit from a prison.

"What's the matter?" she asked in a gentle voice, and Naruto looked at her with those same guarded eyes she resented so much right now. They didn't suit that innocent and cute face one bit.

"I have to go now. Thank you for everything" he said softly, making her raise an eyebrow. Did he not like this room? She had booked the most expensive suite after all.

"You can stay here if you like, don't you like it here?" she asked and he bit his lip, clutching the blanket to his chest tightly. It felt very nice to him. A roof to sleep under, a warm bed to rest on, new clothes and a full stomach. It felt like a dream to him. But it couldn't be his, he knew that.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go." he said finally, and started putting on his new sandals. Tsunade saw his look in an instant that told her how much he liked it here, but was scared too much to stay. She extended her hand to grasp his shoulder, when he shied away from her hand instantly.

"Wait, think this through-" she said desperately to make him stay, as she watched him run by her side expertly to avoid her arms that were trying to pull him in a hug. She put her arms forward to catch him again but just got a brush of her fingers with his shirt before he was off towards the door. She couldn't let him leave now!

"Shizune, stop him!" she shouted on instinct, making her apprentice nod who didn't want the boy to go herself. She ran up to catch him when he slid under her arms expertly and ran out the door, with the agility akin of a leopard.

"Kami, he's fast!" she exclaimed and Tsunade could only groan in agreement, before both kunoichi's took off after the nimble blonde. Both saw him run outside the hotel and into an alleyway, away from the prying eyes of villagers when Tsunade suddenly stopped Shizune by her shoulder. The apprentice looked confused at her master who was watching the boy in an intense stare like a hawk after it's prey.

"We can't make him stay forcefully Shizune, he must have been scared when we tried to catch him, almost like idiots chasing a butterfly." she mumbled in annoyance, making the black haired girl stick out her tongue childishly. She too thought they had gotten carried away, when suddenly Tsunade started following him from a distance, hopping expertly over the rooftops. Shizune was completely baffled by the contradiction of her master's words to her actions, that spoke completely the opposite of what she had just said not even a moment ago.

"Tsunade-sama I thought you didn't want to follow him…"Shizune asked, instantly getting a shake of the head from the buxom blonde.

"I said we shouldn't catch him like idiots, we'll follow him and see where he lives in case we want to meet him again." she answered wisely, making her apprentice smile and nod. Both jumped from rooftop to rooftop when they saw the blonde stop abruptly and look around.

" _Has he figured out we are following him?"_ she thought but shook her with a smile thinking she was being an idiot. She was a Sannin after all, there was no way an untrained child like him could catch…

Her eyes widened when she saw baby blue eyes turn to stare directly at her before he turned around and took off in another alley.

"Shit!" she cursed out loud and jumped onto a ledge to give her a view of the alley. She looked in and saw it bare empty with just a small garbage bag by the side. She cursed again and jumped up to a high building, to look around for him but saw no trace of those golden locks she was looking for.

"How the hell did a boy know I was following him and give me, a Sannin for crying out loud, a slip, that too in broad daylight at that!" she exclaimed furiously and saw Shizune too have a look of complete bafflement on her face. The boy didn't know a thing about shinobi's from what she was able to see, but his skills at evasion were pretty darn good, and his speed too was something else alright.

Tsunade couldn't, for the life of her make some sense out of the blonde boy she found so adorable and felt a link with. She wanted to get to know him a bit better and let him know she meant him no harm.

But how was she do that if she didn't even know where the hell he lived!

She pulled her ponytails childishly, trying to rack her mind and Shizune couldn't help but laugh at her master's misery.

"He's something else alright. Isn't he Tsunade-sama?" she asked in giggles and Tsunade broke into a fit of giggles herself.

"Yeah that he is." she said giggling happily herself at the irony of their situation. Both watched the empty alley with a small sad smile on their face. Tsunade turned her eyes to the center of the village, straight at the Hokage Tower. Her smile dropped immediately, and her eyes hardened.

She had questions that needed be answered. And she would get them no matter what. Tsunade Senju was out on a hunt now.

* * *

 _ **~~~Hokage Tower~~~**_

* * *

Loud and firm footsteps, with the sounds of heels clacking on the hard wooden floor echoed throughout the halls of the awfully silent Hokage tower. Tsunade walked down the halls, getting several looks of admiration and respect from everyone. She walked up to the receptionist, who looked up from her paperwork and stood up in respect in the blink of an eye.

"Tsunade-sama! What can I do for you today?" she asked as politely as she could, making the buxom blonde nod. She did want something right now.

"I need to meet Sarutobi-sensei urgently. Is he in?" she asked in a firm tone that meant business, and got a nod from the secretary. She checked the schedule, and saw the she did have an appointment for the evening and decided to push the current one he had to the evening spot. Whatever she had to talk must be important, she mused and ushered her in quickly towards the door.

"Hokage-sama, Tsunade-sama is here to see you on urgent business." the secretary spoke through the door with a knock. Tsunade walked in after confirmation from the inside, and was graced with the smiling face of her teacher. Though she didn't smile back, her mind was elsewhere right now. And she was here for answers that she would get no matter what. Hiruzen though spoke up, completely oblivious of the inner tirade his kunoichi was having inwardly right at that moment.

"What brings you by this early Tsunade-chan? What is this urgent matter you require to discuss off your sensei? On such short notice at that." Hiruzen asked in his usual grandfatherly tone, making her knit her eyebrows when he had broken her out of her thoughts. She decided to be blunt about it and spoke her mind clearly.

"Sensei, I want to know about someone in this village." she said, getting straight to the point. Hiruzen rose an eyebrow and leaned forward, placing his crossed fingers in front of his mouth. Now he was getting curious, his lone kunoichi subordinate was rarely this serious, and when she was, it meant the matter at hand was of grave importance to her.

"Who might that be Tsunade?" he asked seriously himself, seeing the serious expression on her face.

"I don't know his name for sure but I do know how he looks. He has quite exotic features that would be hard to miss." she explained quickly, getting a nod from the man. He sat silently, letting her go on.

"He is around six or seven years old, has silky blonde hair, wide baby blue eyes and three whisker like marks on each cheek…" she explained and saw the slight stiffening in his features, making her smile inwardly. He knew about him, she thought inwardly clapping at her success. Now it was just a matter of milking the information out of him, by hook, or by crook if need be.

"I have no idea who you are talking about. There are many children that age in the village, but I can have someone look for the boy you wish to speak to." he lied smoothly making the blonde frown at the blatant lie he was spouting. Hiruzen knew she wouldn't be staying in the village for that long and the matter would be swept under the rug like he wanted to. But Tsunade saw through his bluff in a blink.

"So I was right, that is Naruto then?" she stated more than asked, and Hiruzen flinched at her perfect accusation. He cursed her keen insight inwardly, though kept a stony face on the outside.

"Why are you asking around for him?" he asked seriously in a steely voice, leaving no room for arguments. Tsunade's eyes narrowed in on the man before her.

"Where do you think he currently is?" she asked in retort to his question, changing the subject instantly to her liking, not at all fazed by the iron in his voice. Hiruzen once again frowned, but answered nonetheless.

"At the orphanage of course." he said as if she was stupid. Though when she looked at him blankly, he knew she was well aware of where he was. He cursed yet again, this wasn't going anyway like he would have wanted it to.

"You've met him." he stated with a sigh, and got a curt nod from the woman in front of him, who had crossed her arms under her bosom to make her quite an intimidating person to behold right now. He let out a tired sigh and rubbed his eyes slowly, showing off how old he really had gotten.

"How is he?" he asked her tiredly, but got another blank stare in return. He sighed yet again at his student and placed his face in his hands. There was no point in beating around the bush right now.

"Naruto he…" he started tiredly, and swung his chair around to look outside the window. His heart pained at what he was about to say. No doubt when she walked out of the office today, he wouldn't be on her list of respected people anymore.

"He is my greatest regret Tsunade." he started, making the woman say nothing and just stare at the back facing chair of her teacher.

"The boy is essentially a prince to the village, but to the villagers he is nothing but the beast he holds. The beast that ravaged the village six years ago. Hatred is a really painful thing to forget Tsunade, it hurts everyone." he said tiredly, making her knit her eyebrows together as he tried to reason with her. To make her slowly realize why he had done what he really had for the boy.

"Yeah in this case all the hatred is hurting a six year old boy." she said coldly, making him fall silent in a moment. He picked his pipe up and lit it, letting out a ring of smoke before he let out a tired breath.

"That it did." he affirmed her words instantly, knowing how true they were.

"Why isn't he in the orphanage?" she asked icily, making him turn around and look at her with such hate in his eyes she nearly shivered. But the hate wasn't directed at her, not one bit.

"He is supposed to be in the orphanage, yes…" he spat venomously, making her frown but she let him speak before interrupting. She would let the man make his point and then decide what she wanted to say and do.

"But the orphanage apparently doesn't have what it takes to care of more children. As soon as he was re-entered, the orphanage sent a notice to the council that they were overflowing with children. One to be precise and the notice, as always sanctioned by unanimous vote from both halves of the council in an instant. Even I cannot overwrite the decision of the entire council." he explained in wise tone, making her look at him with an incredulous expression. Her ears couldn't believe the stupidity he was spouting right now.

"Even the clan heads?" she asked in disbelief, and got a grim nod from Hiruzen.

"No one wants to get on the bad side of the civilian half of the village. Especially, if it is for the sake of only one _insignificant child_." he spat, making her clutch her fists in cold fury. Though her eyes glared at the coot in front of her.

"Then why didn't you do something?" she asked coldly, and he glared right back at the Senju clan head.

"I tried, but everyone was against me. Even the clan heads. I tried to get him in the orphanage time and time again, but after he turned five, they weren't under legal obligation to keep him. I tried, believe me I tried, but the council didn't want our jinchuriki hurting other children with his demonic chakra." he said tiredly, making her look at him in pure disbelief. They doubted the sealing skills of the Yondaime? The one who's dust that left the man's feet was as good as gold to the civilians? That Yondaime!

"Well you could have done something…" she started her tirade, but was cut off by an irate Sarutobi.

"And pray tell what I could have done? They would revolt against me and force down a new Kage, the moment I did something for him. One who would be willing to let them kill Naruto, or have him turned to Danzo like he has been forcing me to all these years, to turn him into a mindless weapon used only as a war deterrent. Even I, as a Hokage, cannot fight against the whole village. They would have me overruled and upturn my authority immediately." he said grimly, making her scowl and stand up, looking at the man she once used to respect with utter contempt and disgust. She knew she was done and Sarutobi knew it too. He made his last stand to at least save some face in front of his student.

"I was going to have him entered into the Academy, and let him have an apartment to live since then he would be a budding shinobi under my eyes that would need my help. Even the council cannot object to that." he added with a little light of hope in his voice, but it didn't make any effect on Tsunade as he had expected. She couldn't believe it, so until he was ready for the Academy and started to train to be used by them, he was going to fend for himself among these wolves? It was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.

"You might as well just hand the hat over to Danzo if this what the 'God of Shinobi' has come down to. You aren't making it any easier for Naruto, this is just your way of taking the guilt off your head." she said coldly, and he glared at the buxom blonde. His anger finally got the better of him and he slammed his hands on the table, startling her a little.

"Then take this position from me and make it so that Naruto can have a better life. I know I am not the man I once was, I am merely a shadow of my former self. Take this hat and become Hokage, do what I cannot…" he tried furiously, but he saw the pure disgust on Tsunade's face when she opened the door to leave, but not without a few parting words.

"I don't need that accursed position to help a child in need for my help. I'll show you just how much I can do for him without that darned hat. Mark my words Hiruzen Sarutobi, I'll take that boy under my wing, and Kami be damned if someone tried to stop me." she said in her own iron voice before she left.

Hiruzen winced at the force put behind the closing of the door that had caused a web of cracks in it and let out a tired sigh.

For the first time in a really long time, he felt really old now. As much as he wanted to refuse and deny her words, he knew she was right. He could have done a lot more for the boy. But he had turned a blind eye on him over the welfare of the village.

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of one. That was what he had done.

Tsunade walked out with a furious expression on her face. This why she hated the village and that damned position of Hokage. To think that old coot would use her emotions to try and guilt trip her into becoming the new pig for the village's mountain stone face.

But first things first, she needed to find a certain blonde haired, blue eyed boy. Her thoughts trailed down to the glimpse of his change in eyes she had caught last night. If that was what she thought it was, then he would be scraped alive of all his innocence and used by the village to the fullest.

" _He needs someone, he needs me…"_ she thought desperately, as her maternal instincts kicked in. Her feet now had an extra hop to them, her eyes roaming around, narrowing every now and then in alleys and other places in hope she might see the one she was looking for. Her eyes glanced behind her back to an 'apparently' empty spot on the roof behind her. She stepped into the alley and stopped abruptly.

"It isn't wise to follow me." she said coldly to no one in particular. A moment later an ANBU wearing a dog mask was in front of her. Tsunade knew who it was, she had seen the kid since he was a little child. There was rarely anyone in this stupid village that could get past her eyes unchecked even if she hadn't been here for quite some time now.

"Why are you following me Kakashi?" she asked him seriously, clearly in no mood for playing around. The man himself didn't show any surprise, she wasn't a Sannin for nothing after all.

"It's Dog right now Tsunade-sama…" his lazy voice trailed off when he saw the woman's eyes narrow in on him dangerously, while her patience ran thin with the man. He gulped and spoke up before she blew a gasket.

"I heard what you said in Hokage-sama's office Tsunade-sama…" he started nervously, making her raise an eyebrow.

"And…?" she asked slowly, making him sigh.

"I too have regrets, I didn't want to look after him and wanted hide myself from everyone. In truth, I couldn't bear to be attached to him and loose him like I have for all the others." he said mournfully, making her look at him with pity. The man had almost as much burden as her, and still had more piling up on him. She saw him pull out a slip from behind him and hand it to her.

She read it and rose an eyebrow.

"Coordinates?" she asked him and he nodded.

"That is the place you are looking for. I must leave now Tsunade-sama before someone notices my absence, I wish you luck." he said slowly with a little shame, and tried to disappear before someone noticed his disappearance from duties. He had heard everything from the window of the Hokage Office during his patrolling and looked for her afterwards. At least he could help one of the only ones who wanted to do something truly helpful for the boy.

"You know where he lives?" she asked curiously making him stop for a moment, and he nodded but said nothing. He knew the anger she would release when she saw the place for herself.

"I look after him every now and then and leave some money there for him. But with my missions and ANBU duties, I cannot do much. And the council must not get a wind of my help to him, or they would bar even that barest minimum for the boy. Maybe you can…" he said leaving the thought hanging, and vanished into thin air. She let a small smile grace her lips, when she memorized the coordinates she incinerated the slip, leaving no trace or evidence behind to trace it back to the silver haired ANBU.

Every high ranking shinobi had to memorize the map of the village, and she knew where those coordinates would be approximately, but she would still need a map to pinpoint it exactly. She walked into the bookstore in front of her and bought a map. Her fingers locating the place and rose an eyebrow. It was near the red light district on the outskirts of the village. He lived almost near the village walls, she pondered on in deep thought, her finger scratching her chin in deep thoughts.

She followed the map and walked out to the place she was looking for. Her feet walked her near the place and she saw how deserted this part was, especially after the village had completely shut down all illegal operations within the village walls.

" _A perfect place to hide from the world."_ she thought guiltily, while biting her lip. But she was totally confused when her feet led her into an alley. She looked around to see no doors or signs of life around.

Her eye twitched in fury. Had that lazy pervert pranked her on on such a serious matter? Her eyes though narrowed in on the a large old table kept at the end of the alley. It was covered by cardboard cut from various boxes, to make a small makeshift shelter. Though what had caught her eyes was the small foot she could see, that was covered with a sandal she recognized all too well over it.

She walked to it with soft and silent feet, so as to not arouse any attention. As soon as she reached near it, she stopped and crouched down. She was glad the boy hadn't noticed her, his senses were quite sharp from what she had seen earlier. He was most probably a natural born sensor and didn't even know it himself. Her hand caught the large piece of cardboard covering the table from the front and slid it to the left.

Her eyes widened at what she underneath it, and her eyes watered themselves on their own in an instant. She bit her lip to keep from crying at the scene.

" _Oh Kami, what have they made you go through baby?"_ she thought to herself, while her eyes took in the blonde she was looking for all day long. She knew now why he hadn't noticed her. He was fast asleep, curled up in a red blanket with a small white cub sleeping with him. The cub was nuzzled against his cheek and purred softly with every breath the blonde took.

She couldn't believe it. This was his home? A thrown away table covered with card boards? No wonder he looked so desperate when she had asked him if he liked it in her hotel room. She glanced to the side, only to see a worn off mug and some clothes that looked like they had seen their better days, kept in a cardboard box with several other boxes, no doubt containing his other things.

He had made this little makeshift shelter into his home, from what he most probably would have picked up from around the village. The things villagers had thrown away deeming them useless was his haven now. Her eyes turned back to the small boy who was curled in a ball in his blanket, and that crimson blanket was the only thing that looked like it wasn't a thrown away thing. Instead it looked really expensive? She thought a little curious now with the new development that took her mind off depressing thoughts for a moment, much to her happiness.

She narrowed her eyes at it, and saw the small Uzumaki spiral embossed on a corner making realization dawn on her. It was the blanket Kushina must have ordered to be made for her newborn son. She couldn't help but smile at how adorable he looked right now.

It was his to have, along with the entire fortune of his parents. But she knew why he couldn't. The wrath of the entire elemental nations would come along with the power and fame of his parents. And the village would rather have him die, and absorb all the sealed heritage into the village, than let him have it and live peacefully with his rightful belongings and fortunes.

Her hand reached out and brushed his head gently. She smiled when he leaned into her hand like a little cat, and nuzzled it in the warm and big hand that was cupping it gently.

"Naruto?" she whispered softly, so as to not startle him and saw his eyes flutter open. His blue eyes widened when he realized someone was in his hiding place, and he scooted back as much as he could with the cub now completely hidden in his arms protectively.

He took in the woman he knew from earlier, and looked at her uncertainly when he saw her smiling gently at him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in a guarded tone, making her smile slip again at his guarded voice. She strained it back to the fullest and looked at him warmly.

"You live here?" she asked him in a gentle voice, and saw him nod timidly.

"Yes, no one lives around here but me and Kiara." he explained softly and politely, and Tsunade gushed over him inwardly when she saw him nuzzle his nose on the sleeping cubs head affectionately. He looked up at Tsunade contemplatively after a moment.

"What are you doing here?" he asked again, a bit scared as his eyes wandered around to look for an escape route immediately. Tsunade saw it and brought her hands in front of her, doing the exact opposite of calming him down. He scooted back and took off to the side, pushing the card-boards away quickly with a push.

"HEY WAIT!" she shouted desperately, and jumped up to follow him. She saw him rush to a wall and was confused as to where he was going, when her eyes widened while she saw him scoot in a small hole and slip into the other side, with the cub tucked protectively under his arms.

"DAMN IT!" she growled furiously at her failure to talk to him, and thought about what to do. She could break through the wall with her monstrous strength, and scare him and half the village to death, or wait it out and talk to him when he came back later. At least now she knew where he lived she thought with a tired smile. She didn't know why she wanted to get to know the boy so much, but she needed to, that much was for certain in her mind right now.

She sat down by the wall, tucking her knees with her arms to her chest and placed her forehead on her knees, letting out a tired sigh. Her eyes drooped a little and her breathing softened when she fell asleep in the alley.

* * *

 **Author's Notes : There is the second chapter of my story. I forgot to mention some things last time, the Sharingan will be a rare kekkei genkai in this story, much like the Mokuton. To me, from the beginning it didn't make sense that a bloodlimit, as powerful as the Sharingan had so many bearers. It made it's appeal and rarity quite shallow in my eyes. Well I intend to rectify it here. Only four have ever been documented to have ever wielded it before our little blonde her, Indra, Madara, Obito and Itachi being the last one. Well if you like it and would like a quick update please leave reviews. I'll see you next time alright? ;)**

* * *

 **PS : This story has been co-authored by me and** _ **NarutoxSharingaxenthusiast.**_ **Please give my friend the due credit for his help. I'm sure many of you would have noticed his style mixed in this too along with mine by now hehe.**


	3. Chapter 3

_**~~~Naruto : New Beginnings~~~**_

* * *

 _ **~~~A few hours later, after the sun had set and night had befallen~~~**_

* * *

Naruto slid into the hole in the wall that had helped him escape his housing alley in the first place, through the other side of the wall and back into his alley. Kiara was tucked in his shirt, and poking her head out of his collar, her ears twitching every now and then in an adorable manner, all the while clutching the insides of the shirt with her small paws to grip it.

Naruto was completely exhausted. He had to go through hiding into the Akimichi clan's compounds, just to find his companion some discarded meat she adored so much. And after a long haul of hiding and looking, he had finally found her some nice pieces to eat after all. The cub let out a cute yawn and snuggled into his neck, making the blonde giggle happily as he made his way into his shelter.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a silhouette in the dark, a little away from his housing shelter. He eyed it warily and kept the cub in his bed, who leapt in the blanket with a soft mewl, clutching the soft material to suit his needs with her small paws that were developing some new claws.

"Shh…" he admonished the cub to keep quiet while patting her head gently, eyeing the sitting silhouette near them worriedly. He didn't want whoever it was to wake up. The cub looked at his master in innocent confusion, especially at the strange expression he was making to her, and tilted her head to the side rather cutely, letting out a soft purr she licked his toes softly.

Naruto tickled her head softly with his finger, making the soft feline curl up around his hand and mewl softly. He couldn't help but smile at his little friend and partner and tucked her in the blanket seeing how distracting she was being right now. Hiding her here in case the person there wasn't so friendly was the best thing to do right now, at least in his young mind.

"You stay here alright Kiara? I'll go and see who it is and come back. So sleep now…" he patted the small ball of blanket hiding his beloved cub gently, and heard her muffled mewl in it in response.

He couldn't help but let out a tired sigh, he was exhausted and he wanted to sleep. But now he might have to go on another run from a chasing person.

" _Can't I get a rest for just one day? Now people are coming to my home too…"_ he thought tiredly and tiptoed softly to the figure sitting by the wall.

He let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding, when he recognized the blonde hair and creamy skin of the woman that was sleeping soundly there, one he knew all too well at that.

Tsunade had actually woken up the instant he had wriggled out of the hole and made a soft noise, but was just acting to be asleep right now. She didn't want the tipsy blonde to make a run for it again. She heard small and soft footsteps, that she was having trouble hearing in all honesty, and wouldn't have heard them had she not been concentrating keenly on them.

" _His stealth skills are something else…"_ she surmised in her head, but kept her cool on the outside. She didn't want to mess it up this time.

Naruto stood by her side and crouched down. He knew she was sleeping, since he hadn't seen her move or her breath hitch even in the slightest ever since he had seen her there.

Tsunade had to force down the urge to laugh when she felt him poke his finger in the side of her stomach. She bit her lip to keep the ticklish pokes he was making and kept her act up quite perfectly, despite the troublesome situation she in right now.

Naruto bit his lip himself. Now what was he to do? She wasn't supposed to still be here when he got back. And she was out like a light, since his soft pokes to her stomach weren't working. He decided to try a little harder to wake her up, she shouldn't really be in a dank place like his instead of her own nice house was what he thought right now.

He put his hand on her naked arm from her cut sleeves blouse, and shook her gently. He didn't want to abruptly wake her up and get her angry at him. All he wanted was to be left alone peacefully, all so he could get a nice sleep.

"Hey lady? Please wake up…" he said softly, in his adorable baby like voice. Tsunade gushed over his adorable voice, and berated herself instantly for getting so distracted merely by his voice. Her mind turned it's gears violently to think of how to proceed with her unplanned plan right now.

Naruto stopped a moment later, when he saw she was completely and utterly…out like a light. He looked at the hand that had just touched the skin of her arm, and chewed his lip nervously.

" _She's so cold, she might get sick if she stays like this…"_ he thought and stood up, walking back to his shelter with the same soft tiptoeing steps so as to not disturb his unwanted visitor right now.

Tsunade was cursing herself inwardly, quite colorfully at that. She had completely ruined her chance, she thought when she heard him walk back into his shelter. Now she was stuck sitting here like a fool, trying to act asleep even though she was wide awake! All because of her stupid plan!

Her thoughts suddenly trailed off when something warm covered her shoulders and arms. She trickled her fingers over the soft wool of the blanket that had been draped over her just now. A smile graced her lips, hidden underneath her knees right now, when she realized what the boy had done. She felt a hand brushing the back of her cold cheek gently, and a small and soft whisper rang in her ears.

"You take care miss, you don't want to get sick now, do you?." she heard the boy's angelic voice whisper to her, before he walked back into his shelter. She clutched the blanket in her hands from the sides and let out a soft giggle in happiness, when he entered his shelter and was out of hearing range.

" _AND TSUNADE SCORES PEOPLE! THAT'S RIGHT, WHOO HOO!"_ she screamed to the gods inwardly. A chibi Tsunade was giddily bouncing and waving a winning flag, along with hooting horns of joy inside her head at her success with the adorable blonde boy, that she had just had right now. Now she had just the perfect plan at how to go about to winning over the boy the next time.

Naruto stepped in his shelter and flopped onto the bed. Kiara purred and licked his cheek, looking at him innocently at her loss of the warm blanket they always shared together. He pulled her close and slid her into his shirt quickly. She popped her head out cutely with her ears twitching, and licked his nose softly, making the blonde giggle happily.

"I'm sorry girl, you will have to stay warm like this tonight. That lady needs it more than us tonight, alright?" he whispered to the yawning cub and kissed her head softly. The cub hid herself in his neck, and he himself curled up into a ball to hide from the cold.

He thought about why he had given her his precious blanket, but admonished the thought quickly. The lady had been quite nice to him compared to the others up until now. She had treated his wounds, fed him those awesome pills and given him these nice clothes. She had even offered him to stay at her place even though that was most likely a lie. But it felt nice to just hear it from her mouth. He, if only for a small moment, had felt like he had mattered to someone and she cared if he lived or died. It made him smile. But he didn't trust her, he reminded himself not to trust anyone and clenched his eyes shut.

She had helped him out, so the least he could do was help her in return. Yeah that was what it was! He was merely paying the nice lady back.

Plus, it wasn't like he ever got sick like others anyways. He was built like a tank in that department. So it would be best to let that lady have it for now. He had to pay her back for her bottles anyway, so this was a good start at that too.

That was what he told himself, before yawning softly and let the serenity of the dead night take him deep into her slumber.

* * *

 _ **~~~Next Morning~~~**_

* * *

Naruto woke up, to probably the best sleep he had in probably quite some time now. He snuggled his face in whatever soft thing he was mushed into, and felt so safe when he felt something wrapping around his waist and clutching him tightly to the mushy thing he was sleeping on.

A moment later, realization dawned on him and his eyes snapped open in shock. He looked up with blinking eyes to get rid of the sunlight, only to have them go wider when he saw Tsunade hugging him tightly in her sleep. Both were wrapped up in the blanket he had draped over her last night, and cuddled to each other tightly.

He tried to wriggle out of her grip, but it proved to be futile against the arms of the strongest kunoichi the Leaf had ever had. His eyes watered at the situation he found himself in, and he tried to get her off of him, as if his life depended on it.

Tsunade's eyes opened slightly when she felt the golden ball in her arms struggling slightly. She pulled him in closer and kissed the top of his head gently.

"Shh. It's alright, it's just me." she cooed softly, and tried to calm him down. But her sleepily half lidded eyes snapped wide open, when she felt all the struggling cease a moment later, his body going completely limp in her arms. Her ears perked up when they picked up the sound of soft sniffles. She turned her gaze down only to see the blonde boy in her arms crying and wailing rivers from his eyes.

"Let me go….I don't want to…. do it again….please….don't do that….just….please…. let me go…." he wailed loudly, crying heavily in her arms. His loud and muffled words, were nothing more than incoherent whispers in between his loud sobs.

Tsunade's heart clenched in on itself, while she loosened her arms over the boy. He immediately crawled away from her, stumbling a bit since his eyes were so full of tears that he wasn't able to see, or even think straight for that matter with his jumbled up mind.

Tsunade was for the life of her, completely and utterly speechless. She watched him cry and wail, and for the life of her she didn't know what to do right at that moment. All her life's experience, her skills as a shinobi and the top medic-nin, even her womanly instincts seemed to be failing her right at that moment. Her motherly part told her to hug the boy to death, and try to take in all his pain in herself. But the boy wasn't even in a condition to even be touched right now, let alone a hug.

She never even realized when her own silent streams of tears flowed down her eyes, while she kept watching the blonde wail for his life. She couldn't understand his words, but the pain in his sobs was unlike anything she had ever felt before. She reached her hand out to touch him gently for reassurance out of pure instinct, to do anything to stop the boy's pleading cries, but it turned them on even more as soon as her hand grazed his arm gently in a slight touch.

She let out a choked sob and pulled back her hand, flailing them around wildly, whispering sweet nothings and apologies to the boy. Telling him it was alright, and she was here, even that she won't do it again, but nothing seemed to work or get to stop those painful cries coming from the boy. She saw how his purple chakra was flailing around violently in a vortex all around him, as if responding to the anguish it's bearer was releasing, right at that very moment.

This went on for another hour when little Naruto finally fell to the side, sniffling softly into an exhausted slumber. Tsunade scooted closer to the sleeping boy. Being extra careful that he wasn't awake,she brushed his head gently and leaned down to kiss it. She let out a sigh in his soft hair and nuzzled her nose in it.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I'm so so sorry. I was being so selfish into pushing you into ,liking me that I didn't see how much you were suffering baby. Please forgive me, but I'll make it alright. Don't you worry." she softly whispered in his ear, kissing his whiskered cheek that was so wet from his tears in a gentle kiss. Her eyes watched his beloved cub come back from her walk, and hobble up straight to her master. She mewled and licked his cheek, trying to get him to wake up. Tsunade tried to brush her hair to divert her attention and was startled when the cub glared at her.

She already knew better than to force herself onto the blonde boy's companion. Especially, after what it had led to just now for the boy in question. She put her index finger towards the cub's forehead, who was now baring it's fangs protectively while protruding her hidden claws at her, all that at seeing his master's state, and to see if she would attack her. Tsunade gently put her finger on her head and let out a small electric pulse, instantly making the cub fall sideways and fast asleep.

"I'm sorry, but this is something I have to do for your master Kiara." she whispered apologetically with a sniffle, scooping up the boy and his companion in her arms. She cradled the two gently into a comfortable position, before walking out of the alley and towards her hotel room.

She made her way through the deserted part of the village and straight into it's main square. Almost all the eyes turned to see her tear stricken face with wide eyes. The boy with the unmistakable sparkling golden hair was being glared at, as if in accusation that he had made her cry. Tsunade's aura turned downright murderous, and a field of pure and raw KI surrounded her, making almost everyone stumble back to their works, and try and ignore it completely or fear suffocating to death.

She wouldn't give the bastards who were the primary cause of the child's broken state bare their fangs at his innocence anymore. She was damn sure the boy hadn't even so much as glare back at them in his life, he just wanted to be left alone and live peacefully with whatever he had, however little it was. Her eyes sparked a hope of life when she stepped into the hotel room. The hotel's receptionist quivered watching the irate Senju walk past her with a blonde boy wrapped up in a red blanket, held safely and protectively in her arms.

* * *

 _ **~~~Hotel Room~~~**_

* * *

Shizune went to answer the knock on the door. Having read the newspaper half heartedly for distractions, three times already. She was nervous about Tsunade, who hadn't come back ever since she had gone to visit the Hokage Tower yesterday. She had asked around there, only to find that her master had left the office quite early then went somewhere.

She opened up the door only to gasp in shock.

Tsunade stood there with tear stricken cheeks and blood shot eyes, holding the blonde boy coddled up in the red blanket in her arms.

"Shizune, is my bedroom cleared?" Tsunade asked tiredly, ignoring the stupid expression on her apprentice's face completely. Shizune blinked out of her stupor and nodded, hearing how tired she sounded so early in the morning at that. No doubt from crying a lot.

"H-Hai!" she squeaked out with a stutter, getting another tired nod from Tsunade who walked past her slowly. She walked in the room, pulled the sheets down and placed the boy over it gently. She kept his loyal companion by his side, and draped over their beloved crimson blanket over them. She smiled a small strained smile, watching how peaceful the two looked sleeping together, and finally walked back to the living room, falling on the couch like a log. Her arms covered her eyes and she let out a weary sigh.

Shizune sat on the chair by her side and eyed her exhausted master worriedly. She was happy that she had brought Naruto and a cute cub that looked like a pure white cat back with her, but what she didn't like was why she and Naruto looked like they had cried way too heavily. And from her guess, the reason Naruto was still asleep was due to pure exhaustion from crying his heart out.

"What happened Tsunade-sama?" she asked, trying to make some sense out of the situation. Tsunade, instead of answering her, just let out another tired sigh and a thick silence befell the room. Her cracking voice, coming from her dry throat spoke up, in but a whisper.

"I messed up Shizune. That's what happened." she said, her cracking voice showing the shame it held from the Senju clan head and threw Shizune in for a loop. She blinked in confusion, not understanding the situation at all, and watched Tsunade flip around on the couch to make her face towards the back seat of the couch.

"I tried to get close to him Shizune…" she whispered, making the girl nod hesitantly.

"That's a good thing right Tsunade-sama?" she asked in confusion and just got another soft sigh from the blonde woman.

"I tried too hard Shizune, and I messed up…" she whispered tiredly, making the black haired girl blink. Now that made sense, however little it was. But she needed more.

"Tsunade-sama, please tell me everything. You're scaring me to be honest." Shizune said in her warm and caring voice. Tsunade fell into another bout of silence, before her recital started.

"I found where he lived Shizune…" she whispered, making Shizune turn quite surprised. Though she didn't interrupt to ask how she had come across that. That would come in due time.

"He lives in the abandoned Red Light district of the village near our walls. His home is in an alley…" she whispered softly, making Shizune lean forward to hear it all clearly before assuming anything.

"His house is a thrown away table covered with cardboards Shizune. That blanket and the cub is his most expensive and precious possessions." her voice rang through the silent room. Shizune's eyes were wide in shock, and no words were coming to her mind when Tsunade continued.

"I met him there while he was sleeping and I made him a little scared, to which he promptly ran away…" she continued, making the girl blink and nod yet again. The boy had a habit of running away at the smallest of things, that much she knew.

"So I waited for him in the alley, and fell asleep while I waited. He came back and I acted as if I was asleep. He tried to wake me up but I didn't budge, and seeing his failure at that, he draped over his blanket upon me, to save me from the cold." she whispered with such affection and love that it made Shizune smile a bright smile. Tsunade herself was smiling remembering it. Shizune heard the pure adoration in her voice and knew she loved the boy too much now.

"So I planned that when he would fall into a deep sleep, I would sleep with him. So I did." she whispered softly, making Shizune sit on the edge of her seat with a loving smile. It was almost like a sweet movie to her right now!

"I thought he would warm up to me being close to him, and would accept me as a person he could trust. But…" she stopped, making Shizune's smile drop at the 'but'. That didn't sound good.

"When he woke up, he started struggling, but I held him firm and kissed him to calm him down. He ceased his struggling quite suddenly." she explained in a monotone voice. Shizune was grinning like crazy. She had done it! The boy must adore her right now!

"That was when I heard a sniffle…" she whispered in pained voice, making the giddiness disappear from Shizune's face instantly.

"I looked down and he cried Shizune…" Tsunade said and let out a sob herself in agony. Shizune rushed to her master's side who broke down and cried in her arms, letting all her pent up emotions out.

"You should have seen him Shizune. The way he cried, he must have suffered so much. I've never seen someone cry that way Shizune, he was wailing in agony, begging me to just leave him alone. I couldn't do anything for him Shizune, he cried himself to unconsciousness all because I was so selfish…." she spoke up in sobs, while Shizune held the crying woman in her arms. She shushed her up instantly. It was amazing to see the effect the boy had on her, Shizune knew the boy was not going to be alone any longer now. No matter what it took.

"You weren't selfish Tsunade-sama. You were just trying to make him warm up to you. He'll be fine and I'm absolutely sure he adores you just as much as you adore him. After all he did care to not let you get sick, didn't he?" she asked wisely, making Tsunade smile childishly herself.

"Yeah, that he did." she said with pride in her voice and Shizune giggled. Tsunade's eyes turned to the closed door to the room Naruto was sleeping in, and her eyes widened in horror.

"SHIZUNE!" she shrieked, and sweat dropped when Shizune pointed her senbon launcher to where she was staring at.

"Unlock that door." she said seriously, making the girl blink in confusion. Tsunade though was getting impatient.

"OPEN THAT DAMN DOOR RIGHT NOW!" she ordered loudly, making Shizune huddle up with a stumble and open the door with a completely baffled look on her face. Tsunade walked in the door and started unlocking and opening the windows too.

"Unlock everything in this damned suite, the boy shouldn't feel boxed up here. Don't go near him, especially don't touch him. Talk to him gently, I promise the boy won't want to leave my side this time if I have anything to say about it." she said with such confidence, it made Shizune smile and they unlocked everything in the suite except the main door, that was left without a lock for easier access.

Tsunade smiled and nodded to herself with a smile. This was perfect, now on to other important matters. She picked the menu to the hotel room up and rang the bell. A waitress instantly walked in with a bright smile, though rose an eyebrow to see every window opened up even with the air conditioning on.

"Is there a problem?" Tsunade asked suddenly, making her blush in embarrassment while shaking her head and take out her notepad when she saw Tsunade going through the menu.

"No, of course now Lady Tsunade. Can I take your order then?" she asked getting a nod from Tsunade instantly.

"I want everything from the kids section." she said finally, making the waitress blink innocently.

"Everything?" she asked incredulously. The kids section had a large range of starters, snacks, full kids meals, beverages, deserts and almost all their exquisite ice cream and pie combinations too.

"Why? Will there be a problem with my order?" Tsunade asked blankly, with a raised eyebrow herself.

"Wh-No, of course not. But the quantity will be quite too much, and quite a lot of your money would be wasted too. You should select something particular from each section…" she trailed off seeing the blank look on Tsunade's face. Well so much for suggestions she mused.

"Will that be all Tsunade-sama?" she asked tiredly, and got a smile and a nod from the blonde. The stellar struck waitress started to walk out, almost on the verge of fainting right now.

"Yes, that would be all and please make it quick, me and Shizune are quite hungry." she said and the waitress went out with a run. It would take the chefs a trip to hell to prepare all this in time and she shouldn't be wasting any time right now. Tsunade looked at Shizune with a bright smile, who was staring at her blankly. Tsunade though, threw her a purse and grinned.

"Now, don't give me that look Shizune, I merely want to apologize for making the boy cry so much. Plus, he needs the food." she stated plainly, making the girl sigh in exhasparation. Well, it was better than wasting money on gambling and drinks, she surmised herself.

"Alright now off you go…" she said picking the kunoichi up like a wrestler and threw her out of the room. Shizune rubbed her sore butt and glared at the grinning blonde heatedly.

"Now go and buy him some clothes and toys. Actaully, get him a lot of clothes and a lot of toys. Actually, a lot of toys for that cub too. Now go and be back in a flash." she said, slamming the door on the face of an irate Shizune.

"You can't buy him with things like this Tsunade-sama!" she spoke tiredly as well as angrily through the door, feeling quite stupid that she was actually helping her at these childish antics, and talking to a closed door at that.

"We won't know unless we try!" came Tsunade's chirpy voice from within the room. Shizune sighed and shook her head. She was hell bent on this and won't stop, that much she knew. So might as well enjoy her shopping spree while she was at it, she thought with a smile herself and went about to the shops.

* * *

 _ **~~~A couple of hours later~~~**_

* * *

Tsunade and Shizune sat on chairs, waiting for the blonde boy sleeping in front of them to wake up. Shizune gazed at all the food sprawled across the room with a hungry gaze. It looked so delicious!

She nudged her finger towards a slice of a chocolate truffle cake, when her had was slapped harshly. Tsunade glared at her and Shizune glared back.

"I was just going to taste the icing!" she reasoned childishly, and Tsunade sighed and shook her head firmly.

"No touching until Naruto wakes up. Don't be such a glutton!" she scolded the kunoichi making her pout childishly. With the aroma in the room and all the things kept there, leaving almost no room to walk, she was getting quite hungry. How was she to know that the kids menu was so delicious?!

Their banter stopped when the blonde boy in question wriggled awake with a cute yawn and sat up, rubbing his eyes sleepily. Tsunade and Shizune reminded themselves that they couldn't hug the boy, and were cursing inwardly at their luck after seeing how cute he looked like that. Kiara stretched her legs, when she felt the movement and walked onto Naruto's lap and curled up over it. Naruto brushed her hair sleepily, when he blinked at the large teddy bear's eyes laid on his feet.

In fact, his whole bed was covered in soft toys.

Wait, since when did he have a bed? He thought in a half sleepy state and took in his surroundings. His sleep vanished instantly when he recognized the place he had been in once before, and picked Kiara up to escape it quickly.

"NARUTO! WAIT!" came a loud plead from his side, making him stop and look at the pleading face of Tsunade. She sighed in relief, when she watched the boy stop and look at her innocently in confusion.

"Naruto please don't run, you can go if you want. The windows and doors are all open and we won't stop you. See for yourself, there's no need to be scared." she spoke to the boy in a soft motherly tone. Naruto glanced around sharply, and saw she was indeed telling the truth and relaxed a little. Tsunade smiled at her success when Naruto's nose twitched.

Naruto turned to the right and saw so many trolleys, full of such delicious food, that it made his eyes widen comically. He wasn't even sure if he had eaten, or even seen so much food in his life for that matter! He saw that almost all of the room's empty spaces except for the path to the door was covered with various soft toys.

It was just like the stories he had heard when he was in the orphanage, where an angel brought so much food and toys for everyone to enjoy. Naruto saw a few bags lying by his side and peeked in, only to see it full of clothes his size. His eyes turned back to the warmly smiling Tsunade, and he looked at her with completely lost eyes.

"What's going on here?" he asked uncertainly, completely lost at the situation he was in. Tsunade cleared her throat and gave him a smile.

"Well Naruto you see, since I made you cry and all. I wanted to apologize. Think of this as my way to apologize." she said in a warm and caring tone, making his chest warm up at the affection that was held in her voice.

"This is all for me?" he asked softly, not believing it and thought of it as a prank when he looked to see Tsunade just give him a nod and a heart warming smile. He, for the first time in his life was feeling completely self conscious and out of place right now.

"You didn't have to this. This is too much, I forgive you." he said in a shy voice, making Tsunade and Shizune smile and glance at each other. He was letting his barrier's drop again and this time Tsunade was going to hook him in completely. Shizune couldn't believe the childish plan was working, but reminded herself that he was still a child.

Naruto had half thought her to just throw him out, now that he had forgiven her but watched her still smile that warm smile at him. He felt so vulnerable and scared right now. He wanted hide within himself…

His thoughts were picked upon instantly by Tsunade, who kept a large bowl of ice cream sundaes over his lap and stepped back in her seat. He broke out of his thoughts and looked at the bowl on his lap and then back at Tsunade with a confused look.

"Go on Naruto, this is all for you." she said softly, and he said nothing and looked at the bowl while biting his lip. He pushed it back gently, making Tsunade frown and he looked at her with such scared and lost eyes, it made herself scared that she was losing him again.

"Why are you doing this all for me? What do you want from me? Please tell me, I can't take it anymore." he said softly, his voice becoming shaky at the end.

* * *

 _ **Author**_ _ **'s notes : There is the next chapter. So how would Tsunade convince him, or what would she say to make him stay with her? Well I guess the next chapter is what can answer it. So as I said this story will have a completely different plot than canon. Everything will be explained as the story furthers more. I just request you all to just take the Naruto world as a basis and keep an open mind for a new plot. I won't follow canon at all, after all if we can't do something incredible here then what is fanfiction all about? Well I request the viewers to please review the story, just a simple few words are fine and they are the only things that keep us author's going. So, I'll see you next time then.**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**~~~Naruto : New Beginnings~~~**_

* * *

 _ **Important Note : This chapter isn't for the light hearted and might make you cry too. Please read it at your own discretion and don't flame the story just because you couln't take it.**_

* * *

 _ **~~~Last time~~~**_

* * *

"Why are you doing this all for me? What do you want from me? Please tell me, I can't take it anymore." he said softly, his voice becoming shaky at the end.

* * *

 _ **~~~Now~~~**_

* * *

Tsunade stood up and walked over to Naruto's bedside. Shizune watched her master's face pick up her motherly smile on her face while she stood up. She walked over to his bed and stood by his side.

"May I?" she asked softly, and got a timid nod from the blonde boy, who scooted a little aside to make some more space for her. She sat by his side gently and hummed in thought.

"How do you like this place Naruto?" she asked after a moment, making Naruto look at her and blink innocently. To him it didn't even seem like a question.

"It's really nice miss, someone like me cannot even dream of living in a place like this." he answered honestly, and her heart twisted at his reply. He seemed to genuinely believe it, showing her just how broken he really was right now.

"Naruto I'll be really honest with you…" she said brushing the cub's fur, who was now calm seeing his master up and about, and purred happily in sleep when she rubbed his ears and smiled. Naruto listened on curiously, awaiting her answer.

"I want you to stay with me." she said bluntly, making him nod timidly again. He had thought it was something like that from what she was doing.

"But why?" he asked in honest confusion, making her take a deep breath for what she was about to lay down to him.

"I want to make you mine Naruto. I want to adopt you." she answered honestly, and his eyes widened in shock. His heart skipped a beat when his mind registered her words. It was what he had always dreamed of hearing from someone when he stayed in the orphanage. But everyone had told him the truth to what awaited him and he laughed softly, shocking the two ladies in the room.

"Why would you want to adopt a demon…" his words couldn't be completed when Tsunade had placed her fingers on his lips, and was looking at him with such fire that he was drawn into those protective eyes instantly.

"You're a really special child Naruto. The people around you just don't see it right now, but I see it. I want you to see it too. I won't force you into anything Naruto but it is the truth and I didn't want to lie to you." she said honestly rubbing his hand gently. She was glad he wasn't pushing her away but his silence was truly killing her on the inside.

Naruto was now completely calm and silent. His eyes were staring at his lap intensely. They couldn't see what was going on in them since his long front bangs were shadowing them from the world.

Tsunade was getting eerily nervous. He had grown calm and quiet, a bit too quiet and she didn't like that silence on bit.

"Thank you." he whispered softly a moment later. Shizune and Tsunade blinked in unison before Tsunade's face broke into a huge grin. Her happiness though died down when she saw Shizune, who instead of being happy was watching the boy with wide eyes. Tsunade followed her eyes and saw small drops falling on his lap, trailing down his face slowly.

With each drip Tsunade's heartbeat rose and the silence in the room got thick to the point of suffocation. Thankfully, Naruto broke it a moment later.

"But I can never be adopted." he whispered in a small voice. Tsunade wanted to speak but she saw him smiling at her genuinely, as if he was happy about what he was saying.

"I've known it for a while now. But thank you for saying that to me, it meant a lot. For a moment I really thought I had a family…" he said with a sniffle and childishly wiped his nose with his sleeve. Tsunade though broke out of her thoughts and looked at him defiantly.

"You can be adopted Naruto, just give me a chance. Please…" she was cut off when he laughed softly again.

"You don't really know me miss, you don't really know anything about me. I'm not worthy of being adopted or being cared for anymore. _He made sure of it…"_ he whispered the last part so quietly that Shizune didn't hear it. But Tsunade thankfully did, and now her whole attention was on the blonde boy by her side.

"Who made sure of it? Naruto… tell me, what are you talking about?" she asked him so softly and gently that he looked at her wide eyed. The visions started running through his mind again, visions he had buried in the deep recesses of his mind long ago.

"That night, it was raining…" he whispered. Tsunade's blood ran cold at his change in voice. It was almost as if the boy wasn't even awake anymore, like he was possessed. His voice, it was so hollow, so dead, without any emotion whatsoever.

But what truly scared her were his eyes. They had lost all their color and were now almost the deepest azure she had ever seen, and seemingly completely dead.

"I was cold, it was so cold…" his dead voice rang in the room. Even Shizune was captured by the moment that was taking place in her room.

"Lightning was shining, I was so scared. The winds were really harsh and it was a scary storm." he whispered in his trance like voice. Tsunade and Shizune were hearing his every word, hanging to his voice as if their life depended on it.

"I wanted to get away, I didn't know where I was. I was so scared. So I saw a cave in the forest." he whispered softly, in that same accursed voice. Tsunade and Shizune's hearts were beating wildly as the blonde had gone into a trance, and was pouring his secrets out to them right now.

"So I went in, there was no rain and it was silent. I liked it. But the cave was large and I went in. There was a man…" he whispered softly, making their hearts skip a beat.

"Lightning shone and I saw his eyes…" he whispered, his voice getting smaller and smaller by the second.

"His eyes…" he whispered again and Tsunade saw his body quiver slightly.

"His scary eyes…" he whispered yet again, bringing his knees to his chest and hugging them for dear life. Tsunade saw him trying to himself within his own little world and spoke up in her soft voice.

"What did they look like?" she asked softly, her own voice now a little shaky. She didn't really want to hear it. But her mind had gone blank and she was captured in his eyes that became even more lifeless than before when they looked up into her own, scaring her to the core.

"Snake…" he whispered making her hazelnut eyes go wide. Shizune brought her hands over her mouth when she realized who he was talking about. There was only one person with those accursed eyes in the entire elemental nations.

Orochimaru.

Tsunade caught his shoulders on instinct, and saw him not even register her touch. So far was he into a shock, that only her next words registered themselves in his ears.

"What did he do Naruto? Please tell me…" she pleaded him in a whisper, and saw him move his lips a little but no words came out of them.

"H-He…" his voice cracked, as his lifeless eyes prickled with small wet drops near their corners. Tsunade saw him trembling even more and she wanted to stop him, she couldn't see him in such pain, but she had to know what had happened to break him so much into what he was right now. This might be the only chance she would break through his defenses so much and know who the boy truly was.

"Tell me Naruto, what happened…" she pleaded in her soft voice, and didn't let him take his lifeless eyes off of her. Shizune tried to stop her by putting her hand on her shoulder. But she pulled her hand back with a gasp when she saw Tsunade's murderous eyes streaming with tears glaring at her harshly, as if challenging her to try and stop her. She turned them back to the blonde and her eyes softened completely to a motherly gaze.

"Tell me baby…" she whispered ever so softly, to assure him she was there and no matter what he said, he was always going to be the same adorable ball of sunshine that he always was. In her heart she was scared about what he would say, but if she didn't hear it from his lips, she wouldn't be able to sleep knowing she had lost the boy she had come to love so much, just because she wasn't able to bear his pain over her own shoulders.

"He smiled…" he whispered, a small tear rolling down his left eye. His mind had shut itself in a recess and he was now speaking in a completely mindless state.

"He said that I came at the perfect moment, that he would leave the village with a small parting gift…" he whispered, the lone tear dropping down his chin and onto his lap.

"He said that he would make my father see what he was going to do to me…" he whispered, another tear rolling down his right eye.

"I tried to run but he caught me…" he whispered, the lone tear dropping down his chin and onto his lap with a soft tap. Even the tear drop was now audible in the eerily silent room, devoid of any noise except the blonde boy's soft whispers.

"He threw me back to the wall and pulled out a knife. He cut off my clothes…" he whispered, his tears falling down in streams now. But he didn't sob. His body and mind had shut themselves down long ago when he had started telling his tale.

"He laughed when he came closer to me…" he said in such a small voice that the two ladies would have missed it any other day, but not today.

"I was so scared, I begged him to stay away. I didn't know what he was doing when he took off his own clothes. He laughed again, I was so scared…" he whispered in that same small voice. Tsunade choked out a sob while Shizune was staring at the boy with horrified eyes, her hands clasping her mouth.

"I tried to stop him again when he caught my legs, I was so scared…" he whispered in his really small voice. Tsunade pulled him onto her lap and clutched the boy for dear life. She tucked his head under her chin and kissed it with all the love she could muster at that moment.

"Stop it Naruto, you've said enough…" she sobbed out softly, but his mind wasn't registering anything right now. She didn't want to hear it anymore, she knew what must have happened and in her heart she knew she wouldn't be able to hear it.

"It hurt, it hurt so much. I cried and told him to stop, but he didn't. I felt so dirty…" he whispered softly, and Tsunade's heart broke in two right at that very moment. She clenched her eyes in agony and squeezed the boy in her hug to make him stop.

"Stop it…" she whispered with another sob, but his ears didn't pick anything up. His visions were replaying themselves over and over again.

"He told me that now I was the demon that had been tamed, that he would come for me for those eyes he had gifted me right at that moment were ripe for him to take. He laughed again, but I wasn't scared anymore. I didn't feel anything anymore..." he whispered softly and Tsunade hid the frail boy in her arms. She wanted to hide him from everything in that very moment, straight into her arms and never let him go.

"Stop…" she pleaded him as she felt his soft breaths on her neck. The way he curled up in a ball in her arms, and his eyes told her how broken the boy really was, how this village had shown him the true darkness that no child should ever see.

"He told me now I was perfect, I was broken and I was dirty. To cling to my pathetic life until he came back to get me. No one would ever want me except him. But I don't want to go back to him. Please don't let him take me…" his whispers trailed off, when his mind shut itself down completely and he fell unconscious in her arms. Tsunade poured her heart out and cried at the words she had just heard.

The pain she felt, how stupid she was to make him be with her like she wanted. The boy was absolutely right, she hadn't known him until now but now she wasn't going to let him go. She cried heavily, not seeing her apprentice fall to her knees and do the same. Kiara felt the somber atmosphere of the room and jumped into the little space on her curled up master and snuggled herself in a ball to be with him.

Tsunade felt rage cloud her mind at that moment. She was glad that Naruto was in her arms, or she might have leveled half the village along with the Hokage Tower in blind rage right now. Though she had to bent it out of her system.

"OROCHIMARU, YOU DAMNED SNAKE! YOU WILL WISH FOR DEATH WHEN I SEE YOU THE NEXT TIME I SWEAR ON MY LIFE!" she screamed to the heavens in pure anguish, and cried her heart out heavily. Everyone around the hotel was startled at the shout and whispers ran along the streets as to who that voice belonged to, but it wasn't traced back to the room.

She laid down the blonde by her side and kept him in her arms. She wasn't going to let him be alone after what she had heard just now. He was her precious son and she was going to make him realize that he now had a mother to look after him.

* * *

 _ **~~~A few hours later, into the death of night~~~**_

* * *

Tsunade felt the small and soft ball in her arms move slightly and heard a soft yawn. Her eyes snapped open and looked down to see Naruto's eyes flutter open gently.

Naruto opened his eyes, and blinked when he saw the soft and loving eyes of Tsunade staring back at him in the lightly lit room.

"Hey!" Tsunade whispered softly and kissed his cheek gently. He tried to shy away, but failed miserably being held in her arms. But he didn't feel scared this time. Instead it felt really nice and warm.

"Why are you being so nice to me? You know now…" he trailed off in his sleepy voice. Tsunade just smiled and cupped his cheek in her large hand. She watched his face lean down into it to usher in the warmth and look at her with those same adorable and innocent baby blue eyes.

"Yes, and it made me love you even more." she whispered softly, making him look at her wide eyes and turn completely shocked to his heart. She just smiled softly, and looked at him as lovingly as she could.

"Even if you don't want me, you are now stuck with an annoying mother in your life that is so stubborn, that she just won't let you go…" she whispered lovingly, and his eyes widened even more.

"M-Mother?!" he asked in shock and gulped nervously. She just kissed his cheek again and this time he blushed softly in embarrassment, and didn't pull away which made her heart get warm even more.

She was really surprised inwardly that he had remembered telling her all that, but was glad that he did. It made their bond stronger than ever before.

"Yes mother, so now will you stay with me? Right here in my arms, forever and ever Naru-chan, or will you try to run away and I will catch you. Which will still make you wrapped up in my arms, forever and ever?" she asked in a playful voice, flicking his nose with her own getting some cute giggles out of the blonde.

"Really? You will let me be with you?" he asked in a soft and small voice, making her smile and nod gently, brushing his long locks she adored so much off his eyes. She saw him look at her with such vulnerable eyes that it told her, her next words would either make or break him completely.

"You're not lying are you? Please don't lie to me, I can't take it. It hurts so much to be alone…" he cried softly, when she stopped his mumbling lips with her fingers and kissed his eyes off their precious pearls.

"Hush now my baby. You're my son, and I'm not letting you go no matter what. You will never be alone again, I promise." she spoke in a soft yet firm voice. Naruto teared up again and hid his face in her neck. For the first time in his life, he wrapped his arms around her neck and hugged her back, clutching onto her for life.

"Kaa-chan…" he sniffled, and a tear prickled her left eye too. She smiled widely and rubbed his small back gently, when he curled himself completely around her and hid himself within her arms. For the first time, he knew what it meant to have a mother to hold you in a bed.

He felt so safe and warm, he didn't want to let her go ever.

"Don't let me go please…" he sniffled softly, in a sleepyvoice and she smiled and kissed his head from the side.

"I won't, I promise my baby." she whispered and heard him yawn cutely, before his breathing softened and he fell asleep again. This time for the first time though, willingly in her arms and it made her chest swivel with warmth and pure joy.

* * *

 _ **~~~Next Morning~~~**_

* * *

Tsunade woke up and smiled, feeling her son that was curled up and completely hidden in her arms. She couldn't help the pink tint her cheeks, as she felt he heart warm that the blonde had finally opened his heart up to her and accepted her fully.

She held him gently, as close to her as possible, and smiled when he snuggled happily in her arms. He felt so small and frail, so soft that she might break him if she squeezed him tight enough.

Her heart was filled with worry when she saw his cute sleeping face, and she bit her lip nervously. For the life of her, she didn't want to wake him up, and wanted to look at him forever. He looked so adorable, purring ever so softly in his sleep.

But he hadn't had anything to eat since yesterday, and had cried and slept his way through it all. She brought her hand to his whiskered cheek, and gushed inwardly when she saw his whiskers twitch softly at her gentle touch while he leaned into it like a kitten.

"Naru-chan wake up." she whispered gently, and gave his cheek a gentle a tap. She saw his eyes flicker open, and look at her with confusion in a sleepy state. His mind processed the events of last day, and he let out a nervous and hesitant smile.

"Kaa-chan?" he asked more than said and she smiled, kissing his head gently with a nod.

"Ohayo Naru-chan." she whispered and smiled when he hugged her tightly for dear life. She immediately hugged him back. Naruto wanted to cry but he didn't, he had a mother who loved him now. It was all he had ever wished for and he thanked Kami for listening to him and granting his only wish.

"Arigato." he whispered softly, and she knew what he was thanking her for in a moment. She nuzzled her cheek with his whiskered one, getting a giggle out of the boy and laughed lightly herself.

"Now, is my boy hungry?" she asked and got a shy nod from Naruto, who was quite embarrassed and quite hungry. She sat up and put him onto her lap. She brushed his golden and soft locks gently, feeling how soft they really were, just as much as they were beautiful. The door to the room clicked open and Shizune walked in tiredly, completely drained from the emotional stress the previous day.

"Ohayo Tsunade-…sama…" she trailed off uncertainly, seeing Naruto sitting and nuzzling himself in her arms while she was running her fingers through his hair. Tsunade saw her look and smirked mischievously at her stunned apprentice.

"Shizune what's with the face?" she asked in an all too innocent voice, making the girl blink and raise her finger to her cheek in confusion, to see if she was still asleep.

"But-you-he-what?" she mumbled in confusion, and Tsunade gave out a completely mischievous grin. Oh she was going to treasure this moment forever!

"What, can't a mother hold her child in her arms?" she asked innocently making her onyx eyes widen in shock.

"Wha-Mother? Really?!" she asked hopefully when she saw the boy's baby blue eyes peek at her cutely, before he hid himself in her neck again shyly. Shizune let out a squeal in delight and rushed to Tsunade's side.

"Tsunade-sama can I hold him please?" she asked childishly. Her eyes sparkling with excitement at how adorable he looked right now.

"No." Tsunade said simply, making her deflate slightly before she perked up and smiled again.

"Can I touch and kiss those whiskers please?" she asked childishly, making Tsunade raise an eyebrow. Shizune looked at her hopefully before her eyelid fell down.

"No." she said simply and kept running her fingers through his hair happily. She wasn't going to let her ball of sunshine leave her even for a moment if she had anything to say about it.

Shizune whined childishly, and caught her lap in a begging manner and looked at her with wide puppy dog eyes that Tsunade was completely immune to.

"Oh come on please! At least let me look at that adorable face…" she pleaded and Tsunade considered it. She nuzzled her cheek with Naruto's who hid himself even more from embarrassment and wasn't looking to come out anytime soon.

"Alright go and bring something to eat and I might consider it…" was all she could say before the girl was off in a blur, and back with a bowl of ice cream and a plate with a chocolate truffle cake in her hands.

Tsunade sweat dropped at the speed, and put the cake onto her lap. It wasn't healthy to eat a cake as heavy as this in the morning, but today she was too happy to even think about health and her baby boy needed all the calories in the world right now.

"Naru-chan, let's eat baby." she cooed softly, and he glanced out from her neck and nodded. Shizune squealed softly at how adorable and shy he looked when Tsunade raised a slice to his lips, and he bit it softly. He made her eat a little herself and she kissed off the icing near his lips making him turn pink in embarrassment. Shizune handed him a glass of milk, who herself was barely holding herself from attacking and hugging the adorable thing right now, while he took the glass and gave her a strained smile.

" _He's only comfortable with Tsunade-sama right now…"_ she surmised and gave him a gentle smile. Though both ladies were confused, when Naruto let a small tune of a whistle. Shizune gasped and almost fell down when a pure white blur barreled past her, and straight in the blonde's arms who caught her with a soft giggle. He placed the glass of milk near her lips and the cub lapped it up with her tongue and mewled softly.

Tsunade decided to ask the question that had been bugging her since day one.

"Naru-chan, what kind of a cat is Kiara, and where did you find her?" she asked, brushing the hair of the cat whose tail was wagging in happiness while she was lapping up her milk. Naruto smiled and looked at his only friend with soft eyes.

"I don't know, I found her in a forest near my home. She was hurt and breathing harshly when I found her. I treated her as best as I could and fed her, and she never left after that. We've been together for a year now." he chirped happily, making Tsunade smile. But it still didn't answer her question completely.

"A forest you say, but the only forest near where you lived is…" she trailed off when she saw the innocently smiling Naruto looking at the cub adoringly.

"Naruto, this forest didn't happen to have large fences all around it, did it?" she asked, pleading to the heavens she was wrong and cursed them to hell when he nodded. Shizune too realized where she was going with this, and both looked at the cub a little wearily now. The only feline species found in Training Ground 44 a.k.a the Forest of Death were White Tigers.

Tsunade saw the slight black stripes developing on her fur and her eyes grew wide to epic proportions. Shizune too was watching the cub nervously now realizing what it really was.

"Isn't she cute?" Naruto asked innocently to his mother, putting the cub in front of her face who yawned and lapped up the milk on her whiskers cutely. Tsunade couldn't believe the adorable fur-ball was the most dangerous of the feline species in their village, when she saw the innocent brown slitted eyes of the cub looking at her curiously.

"Of course she is." she answered and rubbed her head making the cub close her eyes and purr softly in happiness. She fed Naruto, all the while trying to stop him from feeding whatever he ate to Kiara. He was used to sharing everything with her, but she knew such sweet things weren't nice for her and asked Shizune to get her some meat products, which made Naruto calm down since he knew that she loved meat.

"What were you doing in that forest anyways Naruto?" she asked softly, with a hint of worry etched in her voice. Naruto just kept eating slowly, savoring the sweet taste of the apple pie he was munching with a smile.

"Whenever I can't find any food for myself in the garbage heaps, I go there. It is filled with all kinds of fruits. But it makes my stomach feel funny for an hour or so. And after I met Kiara, we go in there to catch some fish too if I don't find any meat for her in the heaps. She loves the fish I catch there." he said simply, making Tsunade's heart twist in agony. She pulled him back in her arms and fed him herself.

"Not anymore alright?" she asked softly, and Naruto tilted his head to the side and smiled shyly when he realized what she meant.

"Oh…" he squeaked out cutely and looked down shyly. She smiled at how nervous he was with affection which she was going to shower him with from now on, and how adorable he looked right now when he let out a content sigh and patted his stomach slowly. His words from last day rang in her head like acid and she gulped down a choke and asked a question that was bugging her really too much.

"Naruto about what you told me yesterday…" she spoke softly making Shizune look at her worriedly too. She felt the boy stiffen slightly in her arms and continued on.

"Was that the only thing that happened to you baby or was there something else?" she asked gently and rubbed his stomach softly which made him feel warm and fuzzy there. She knew that wasn't that only reason why he was so scared of her merely touching him and showing him affection at first.

"Some women did it to me too. It was a little different from the first time but it didn't hurt as much as it did with that man, but I didn't like it and told them I don't want it. They always said that I deserved it and not to tell anyone, but I didn't have anyone to tell it to anyways. They made me feel dirty too though and they always said that they loved me at first which I always believed, it was why I didn't like it when you…" he whispered in a small voice, making her squeeze him tightly and stop his words. She clenched her eyes shut and Shizune did the same along with clenching her fists.

" _Those bastards. Just how much…"_ she growled on the inside and kissed the back of his head softly and nuzzled her nose in his silky locks.

"It's alright, no one will do anything you don't want to ever again, I promise." she said softly, and it made him smile a gentle smile. He felt so safe right now at her soft words, and melted in her protective embrace with a small nod.

"Arigato… Kaa-chan." he whispered, still hesitant to call her that and Tsunade smiled slightly, and hid her lone tear that fell in his hair from everyone.

The innocent boy didn't even know what they had been doing to him and no one ever bothered to ask him too. She didn't want to tell him now, she wanted him to retain his innocence and heal his scars first.

She pulled her face out and grinned widely. She was going to fill his life with happiness as much as the world would allow her and he wouldn't even remember the hell those bastards had put him through after a while, especially when she was done with him which was never.

"Alright Naru-chan, today we'll go out and shop for you a little. Then we'll eat and play all that you want okay?" she asked in happy voice and Naruto smiled brightly and turned around in her arms with sparkling eyes. He had always wanted to play with someone other than Kiara. The he remembered his friend.

"Can Kiara come too?" he asked pleadingly, when the cub mewled hearing her name called out and Tsunade nodded with a smile.

"Of course, anything you want." she said happily and turned to Shizune who nodded with a smile, understanding what she was trying to do completely.

Both laughed as they watched Naruto tickle the cub who mewled and tried to pry off her playful master, who was currently telling her how nice his mother really was. For the first time Naruto's ears were filled with laughter that he could share with and feel like he belonged somewhere precious to him.

* * *

 _ **Author's notes : There is the next chapter. Hope it wasn't too offending to anyone but it was needed for my plot to move forward. Finally Naruto and Tsunade are one, as he accepts her and opens his heart up to someone for the first time. What does the future await and how will Tsunade make him hers completely with the legal procedures and what will it make as to where they would stay in the future. So wait to read the next chapter. Please review the story if you like it and want further updates.**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**~~~Naruto : New Beginnings~~~**_

* * *

 _ **~~~Konohagakure no sato~~~**_

* * *

"Alright Naru-chan, where should we go first now?" Tsunade mused, her finger placed over her chin in a thoughtful manner. Her other hand was holding the little boy's own who was trying to hide himself behind her legs so as to not come into anyone's view.

Even if everyone called him bad things, he didn't want them to say anything bad for his mother. So it was better if he stayed hidden and a little quiet.

"Anywhere is fine with me…" he said quietly, making her look at the scared boy curiously. Only then did she realize how hard he was trying to stay hidden behind her, making all her temper flare inwardly at those accursed villagers who were the cause of said fright within the boy.

"Naru-chan…" she whispered softly, placing her hand on top of his head to make those wide baby blue eyes blink up at her in all the innocence of the world. "…walk with your Kaa-chan alright? No need to be afraid while I am here, trust me okay?" she asked him in her gentle and patient tone getting a meek nod from the boy.

He couldn't say no to her when she asked him to trust her. He trusted her so much that it wasn't even funny, she was so nice and caring unlike anyone before her.

He came out from behind her legs and she pulled his head near the side of her waist, making him clutch her kimono's helm in his little fists tightly for assurance. She couldn't help but see how adorable he was, but she could do without those guarded eyes of his that seemed to be roaming about everywhere.

Her eyes glared at anyone who so much as looked at him the wrong way with such focused killing intents most went on the verge of fainting then and there from suffocation. She caught sight of a board on top of a shop and her lips twitched upward.

Toy Shop.

She pulled the boy in towards the shop, who followed her like a lost puppy in her arms. As soon as he realized where she was taking him, he stopped dead in his tracks abruptly. Tsunade looked on startled when she saw him looking down at his feet and not meeting her eyes.

"What's the matter baby?" she asked softly, making him shake his head slightly further adding to the confusion. She crouched down on her knees and raised his chin up to forcefully meet his shy and nervous gaze that was trying to look anywhere but at her.

"Tell me please…" she spoke softly, trying to be careful as to not scare the nervous boy any more. She had already crossed some boundaries to get him with her before, but now she had to be careful to earn his trust.

"I'm not welcome here…" he whispered shamefully, making her eyes narrow at him. He looked away instantly when he saw the anger in her eyes, not knowing it wasn't directed at him right now.

Tsunade eyes softened and she pulled the nervous blonde into her arms in a warm embrace which he happily accepted. He squeaked softly when she pulled him up over her head and expertly put him over her shoulders. His tiny arms clutched her head for dear laugh making her laugh whole heartedly.

"Enjoying the view Naru-chan?" she asked playfully making his clenched eyes open a bit then turn wide in amazement. Everything looked so different from up there.

"Sugoi! It's so different Kaa-chan!" he chirped in excitement making her giggle but not being able to nod with his strong grip on her. It wasn't painful in anyway but she loved his small and frail form so close to her.

She walked the village in the same way, the excited blonde trying to memorize everything in his view and all his nervousness lay forgotten from happiness soaring in his heart. His excited giggles every once in a while she positioned him better with a small hop made her laugh herself.

The whole village watched on with stupefied expressions, while the Slug Princess had the outcast child hunched over her shoulders without a care in the world. She went to the restaurant, that she knew won't be hostile towards her baby and clicked the door open.

Naruto didn't feel scared of the place right now, though he was nervous. It was the expensive part of the village, one that he never came into. He knew there was nothing there for him, though he did come here during the festival times to hide and watch the parades. This shopping district had the best view for him to watch them, it was his own form of entertainment during the festivals along with his only friend Kiara.

Tsunade put the boy down and walked to the seemingly empty restaurant's lounge where the manager sat on his booking desk.

"Hibiki, I need a table." Tsunade spoke to the man who looked up from his register and smiled at seeing his favorite customer who came occasionally every few times over the years. His eyes trailed down to the boy, who as soon as seeing he was the center of attention his behind Tsunade's legs and peeked at him nervously. He smiled sadly, what had the village seemingly done to the boy to make him that scared from a mere curious glance of an adult. He looked up to see Tsunade's calculative gaze and smiled warmly.

"I'll book the best table for our two esteemed customers." he spoke happily with a clap making the Senju grin, and Naruto's eyes widened at being welcome here.

"Umm…ano!?" his soft voice called out, surprising the two adults. Hibiki blinked when a small head popped out from the collar of his shirt with furry twitching ears and yawned with a soft mewl.

"It's three." he said innocently making the man laugh loudly at his innocent response and Tsunade to giggle herself at the cub's antics. Tsunade thanked the heavens that this restaurant allowed pets who were trained for their ninja customers since they got many shinobis with their familiars. He walked the 'three' to the second floor's corner side table with a pointed view of the Hokage monument by a completely glassed wall.

Tsunade sat in front of the boy whose gaze was fixated on the Hokage monument as if this as the first time he was seeing it. He heard a cough from Hibiki who had taken his pen and notepad out for orders after placing the menu in front of the two of them. Tsunade firstly saw through the wine section but decided against it today and instead decided on a continental sushi platter with some herbal tea.

The man nodded jotting down her order and rose an eyebrow at the innocently sitting boy who hadn't touched his menu yet.

"Naruto, go on. Read the menu and tell Hibiki what you want alright?" she spoke warmly making him nod in understanding what he was to do. It was his first time in a restaurant so he seemingly had no experience in this. He opened up the thick booklet and glanced at the strange symbols printed on it biting his lip.

He didn't want to embarrass his mother in front of the man in such a nice and expensive place, so he tried the only thing that came to mind.

"I'll have what Kaa-chan is having…" he spoke quickly and closed the menu shut. Hibiki rose an eyebrow at his nervous behavior but didn't pay it much heed though Tsunade did. Something was wrong, she could tell from his darting eyes roaming around everywhere but them too. The boy couldn't hide an emotion to save his life, his eyes gave him away each second. Was he only trying to impress her by ordering the same food? It wasn't a dish that kid would like that much she knew. So…

"Naru-chan, no need to get the same thing as me. Order anything you like, don't be nervous alright?" she spoke to him assuringly and he nodded looking down at his lap.

"I'll have anything good you have sir." he spoke softly, once more surprising the two adults. Tsunade opened the menu and pushed the menu towards him again making him look up at her nervously.

"Naruto go ahead and order something you like baby…" she spoke softly, Hibiki too was seeing the nervousness and decided to add his own two cents in it.

"Go through anything in the second page young man, it's all for kids. I'm sure you'd find something for yourself, we have seemingly everything from the entire Elemental nations at our disposal so go on and order anything alright?" he said making the boy nod. Naruto opened up and flicked it to the second page, his eyes darting around the scribbled letters on the page, not knowing what to do.

He clenched his eyes shut to stop the tears from falling, pushing the menu forward he pointed to the second item on the page not knowing what it was and spoke up.

"Please I'll have this." he said, barely choking back a sob and both adult's eyes widened in realization. Their eyes glanced at each other seemingly passing a message through them silently now that the problem at hand had come out before them.

The boy couldn't read.

They both felt like slapping themselves, especially Tsunade. But she had assumed that living in the orphanage for a while, he must have had the basic reading and writing courses there at the very least. But she had hoped for too much.

Hibiki took the menu away swiftly, to avoid the boy any more blows to his already severely weakened self dignity.

"Of course, I'll be back with your orders in a while. Please enjoy the drinks until then." he snapped his fingers and a waitress came, slipping down the complimentary drinks and both were away leaving the mother-son duo now alone. Tsunade watched his troubled face and shimmering eyes making her heart clench for her stupidity yet again. But she felt like she was walking on egg shells when she was with the boy, his problems were far too much and far too deep.

Even a simple look or a comment made him fall back into his shell of hiding and running.

She was the only anchor to his low self-esteem, that he had come as far as he had today. That much she knew.

"Naruto…" she called out warmly, and the twin streams of held back tears made their way out instantly.

"I'm sorry…" he sobbed out, throwing her in for a loop at his out of nowhere apology. "…I didn't mean to embarrass you, but I can't read. No one ever taught me, please I'll go if you need me to…" he sobbed out. Tsunade had rushed out of her seat and by his side halfway through his words and scooped him onto her lap.

"Shh. It's alright, you didn't embarrass me at all Naruto, you never can. And it isn't a big thing if you can't read, I'll teach you pretty soon." she said in her soft motherly tone, kissing his head when he fisted her collar desperately and clutched on her for dear life. She was so nice, never scolding him or getting angry at him.

"Kaa-chan…I-I…" he sobbed and she kissed his head, brushing his locks to calm the boy down and get him to speak his heart. He gulped down his sob and sobbed out what he wanted to say finally.

"I love you." he said in a soft sniffle, her eyes widened in shock at his words and she squeezed him to herself with a smile.

He loved her.

How great did it sound!

"I love you too my baby." she spoke almost instantly, the words flying off her lips involuntarily off her mind.

Hibiki smiled happily from the side, putting his hand u to stop the waitress with the readied orders to let the two have their moment in privacy. It was the least he could do for the boy, for the burden he carried for them all over the past five years, living like a little urchin clinging to life with the barest minimum.

He had heard the Sandaime's words five years ago, the last wish of the Fourth Hokage still sat well in his mind. He wasn't stupid like them all. With the way he was treated on a day to day basis here, if he had been the Kyuubi this village would have been grazed to the last speck of grass long ago.

He was a helpless child, but he was a simple manager. There was nothing he could do for the boy even after being one of the only one's who was neutral to the boy's plight.

But Tsunade could. And he wished she would.

From what he could see, both needed it now. He snapped his fingers when both giggled as the favorite cub of the blonde curled up on his hair in a small ball of fur.

He placed the orders there while Tsunade still had the tear stricken boy over her lap.

"Kaa-chan where is that other lady?" he asked curiously making her smile. She had sent Shizune to get her some important forms and documents from the Konoha People's Registrations Department. She wanted to get this over with as soon as she could and have him all to herself without any worried or repercussions in the future.

"I sent her on an errand for me, why you missing her?" she asked playfully and got an instant shake of the head from the blonde making her sigh. Shizune would have been crest fallen at his blunt honesty right now. She had a lot to teach him.

Hibiki put their food in front of them and Tsunade couldn't help but gaze at Naruto's order hungrily. It was a round baked bread, seemingly laid out with toppings of some exotic kinds. It looked absolutely breathtakingly delicious.

It was something called a pizza from a far off land if she remembered correctly. She looked down to see Naruto's innocent eyes staring at her cutely.

"We can share." he said, making her cheeks turn pink in embarrassment. The boy could read her like a book right now. She nodded tearing off a slice of the delicacy and putting it over his lips. Her eyes widened at the milky thing stretching when he tried to bite it off to humongous lengths making her even more hungrier than before.

She heard the boy's happy moan of delight and instantly took a bite herself, moaning the same way to make it quite comical to Hibiki who was stifling his chuckles in the side.

Tsunade promised herself to check out the rest of the kid's section over the next few days with Naruto. These restaurants and their kids sections had some delicacies that even shamed her favorites, be it her desert offerings in the hotel or this pizza right now. Both sighed in contentment, devouring the twenty inch disc of baked dough and cheese by themselves and the sushi platter lay forgotten and ruined to the side, but Kiara had taken care of that in between their lapse of concentration.

She paid off her host for lunch with a generous tip much to Naruto's confusion who didn't understand why she gave money for free to the man, but wisely stayed put and let it be for now.

They walked through the village, hand in hand again drawing many strange and hostile stares from people at seeing their princess with the outcast, so close and happy. Tsunade felt Naruto speed down his steps and his eyes turned to the side. She followed his gaze to a small merchant of kid's toys by the side and smiled softly at the item that had garnered his attention so quickly.

A ball.

She looked at the blue soccer ball and then crouched down by the boy, who was startled at spacing out and instantly looked down in embarrassment.

"You want that ball Naruto?" she asked him curiously making him nod meekly. He had always wanted a ball, not for the toy itself but he had seen the parents playing with their children.

She giggled and nodded, he was still a happy child through and through underneath that thick shell of his. She pulled him to the stall, the boy still hesitant but she knew he was a traveling merchant so no problems there.

"Can I have that ball?" she asked the man who smiled and picked the article up, telling her it was 300ryo. She pulled out her walled to pay when the sound of jingling coins met her ears and she looked in front to see Naruto handing the man some money. The man nodded seeing it was more than what he had asked for by 200 and smiled at the two.

She said nothing, just letting the boy have his moment who looked like he had won the world by purchasing that little thing. For Naruto, though it meant a lot. He had seen children play, and when they won't have a ball they would ask for a child who did have it and they would become friends.

He had collected whatever change he found here and there over the months but each stall owner had told him the price way too high than he had with him. But this man had been nice, and the timing was perfect too…

"Can we play?" he asked excitedly, making her smile and nod. She chuckled when he had seemingly had a burst of energy by pulling her to the central park in the village by her hand at high speeds. She followed him into a seemingly abandoned part of the park with just a small makeshift swing that he must have tied himself and many small pebbles here and there.

"So what do you want to play?" she asked the over excited ball of energy who looked quite high on sugar right now and giggled when he threw the ball towards her with a giggle himself.

"Catch!" he spoke happily, making her smile at seeing his happy smile. This was the most happy she had seen him after he had realized she was his mother and she couldn't help but savor it right now. She threw the ball back at the excited boy who was having the time of his life.

The ball was passed for two hours with Tsunade seeing his skills at catching even the most scarcest of her throws as if they were nothing and his pin point aim over her each time he threw it back.

"Alright Naruto, this is enough for today." she said and her stomach dropped when the boy's suddenly slumped and had a crest fallen expression on his face as if she had told him he couldn't breathe for a year.

"But we'll play tomorrow too…" she said and the boy perked up with a grin and a golden blur barreled straight into her stomach making her laugh and brush his hair gently.

"Arigato." he whispered and her heart warmed when he cuddled up to her soft touches like a kitten and hid himself completely in her arms.

She wanted to play with him a little too, but she had something on her mind that had been nagging her mind like a haunted plague. And she wouldn't be able to think straight until she had discovered what 'that' truly was.

"Naruto, come on I have to go somewhere before we head back alright?" she asked and he nodded simply, seeing no problem with it. She took him through the village by his hand, this time not responding back to glares with one of her own murderous ones since her mind was virtually fixated elsewhere right now.

* * *

 _ **~~~Konoha Archives~~~**_

* * *

Naruto walked with his mother, inside a large building where many of those ninja people were coming in and going out of. He didn't like these people, not one bit and tried to hide himself by his mother's side which was working since everyone was focusing only on her legendary presence in the department.

Tsunade stopped at the entrance of the Archives and at the end of the waiting room, turning to Naruto with a smile. She crouched down and pinched his nose getting a cute giggle out of him.

"Alright Naruto, I'll be in and come out after I've gotten what I wanted here. You sit tight over here until I come back alright?" she asked him making him look at her nervously.

"Why can't I come with you?" he asked, and Tsunade could see his quivering lip. But the rules wouldn't allow any civilian into the shinobi archives no matter who they were, so he had to wait over here as much as she didn't want him to and she didn't even want to tell Shizune about this for now until she was sure of it herself, an not even then most probably.

She could see the clear worry etched in his eyes, and knew what it was. He felt like she would leave him here and not return, as sill as it sounded it was pretty reasonable after what had happened to the boy. He needed some sort of assurance from her and she had only one thing for that, as much as she hated to do it it needed to be done.

She clicked the necklace off her neck, putting it over his neck and watched him look at it in pure confusion.

"Now you hold onto that until I come back alright? As long as you have that…" she poked her finger on the green jewel making him nod slightly.

"...I'll always come back for you, no matter what." she said firmly making him smile and clutch it tightly like a lifeline.

"Alright, I'll wait." he spoke softly, but she could hear his sadness laced his voice as he turned around and walked to a waiting chair to wait like he had been told, still clutching the necklace for life in his palm.

His eyes widened when a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind and pulled him back into a soft chest. A pair of lips kissed the back of his head making him melt in the warm embrace that he now knew by heart.

"I'll be real quick, I promise." Tsunade whispered in his ear softly and he smiled with a nod, sitting on his chair with a hop. She giggled seeing him now happy and walked into the large department or the Konoha's nerve center for the wealth of knowledge it had amassed within itself over the years, all documented and secured in the same place.

She walked up to the receptionist, putting forward her Senju authority seemingly for the first time in many a years to get access to the most secured and old parts of the archives. The stunned secretary could do nothing but gawk as one of the village's most influential woman walked past her without a mere glance straight to the village's oldest record shelves, dating back to the founding of the hidden villages and held all of the village's secrets and pasts hidden there.

Naruto waved his legs childishly allowing Kiara out of his shirt while she hopped out to go for a walk. He spun the ball his mother had presented him with a smile, his life seemed so much happier right about now. Looks like everything was changing….

 _BOUNCE…BOUNCE…BOUNCE…_

The ball bounced and his hands caught the large hand now covering his mouth roughly making his muffled screams inaudible to everyone but the person behind him.

"Mmph!" he tried to shout in vain when he was pulled back into a small black bag and everything around him went dark as he was gagged and thrown in a sack like an object.

Kiara came back an hour later, her slitted brown eyes now holding a look of pure confusion at seeing the seemingly empty seat where her master had been. Her eyes turned to the abandoned ball on the corner and she walked up to it, poking the round rubber with her nose and sniffed it. She jumped onto the seat and sniffed out the scents around before her nose and whiskers twitched and she hopped off the seat and blurred straight into the archives.

Tsunade was going through scrolls after scrolls of shelves, seemingly devouring the oldest shinobi history scrolls and discarding them before moving onto the next to find some valuable information. It seemed everything that had been documented were a few small hand written notes by her grandfather himself, and there was virtually no information other than that. She growled slamming back another useless scroll regarding the secret historical actions of perverseness regarding the Inuzuka clan affairs.

Jiraiya would want this for sure she thought bitterly when her thoughts were broken by a small pulling tug on her pants. She looked down to see the pure white cub, having bitten her pant's cloth in her fangs and pulling it back desperately.

"Kiara?" she asked confused and the cub looked up with desperate eyes.

"Mewww!" she mewled frantically and pulled her pant again. Tsunade stood confused before she crouched down and petted her head. She was surprised when the cub slapped her hand with her tail harshly and glared at her with her fangs bared. The cub never did that, it seemingly loved to be petted by those his master trusted that much she knew.

"Mewww! Mewww!" the cub mewled desperately and bit her hand, not tight enough to dig in her fangs but to get a firm grip and pulled her back with all her strength. Tsunade now had an inkling of an idea where the cub was going with his action.

"You want me to follow you?" she asked getting a loud mewl of confirmation from the cub who took off at blazing speeds with Tsunade now hot on her tail. The cub was smart so if it was troubled this much, that meant danger.

Her heart dropped when she realized what the danger most probably was.

"Naruto…" she whispered to herself and doubled her efforts to follow the sprinting and agile cub who speared her way through shelves as if hot knife through butter.

The secretary and keeper of the archives yelped as a small blur whizzed past her and flew off her documents which she tried to hold back.

Tsunade's heart clenched in on itself in worry when she saw the seat where she had sat her baby boy on now seemingly empty and looked down to see a small thing hitting her leg.

Her eyes widened in horror at seeing the small cub pawing the ball with worried eyes as if transmitting her a message of desperation. It could only mean one thing.

Naruto.

Her eyes turned murderous in an instant and killing intent threatened to spill out from her but she restrained herself.

Not yet.

She bit her thumb and smeared her blood on the back of her palm.

 _I_ _Inu_ _→Saru→Tori→Hitsuji_

" **Kuchiyose no jutsu!"** she exclaimed slamming her bloodied palm on the ground, Kanji covered it in an instant to form a small summoning circle before a puff of smoke revealed a small slug there looking at her master's furious and scared eyes in confusion.

"Tsunade-sama?" was all she could say in her melodic voice before she was picked up in her hands by an irate Tsunade.

"Katsuyu, expand your senses. I want you to find me someone this instant. We don't have any time to waste." she spoke up hysterically making the slug quite worried for her master but it nodded in agreement.

"Who is it Tsunade-sama? You know I can only trace back chakra signatures that I remember quite clearly…" was all she could say until Tsunade squeezed her for dear life.

"I need you to find a small boy who has small trace amounts of demonic chakra in his coils. I guess that would be quite specific for you to remember…" she trailed off expectantly making the slug quite shocked at her words.

"You mean the jinchu-"…"YES I MEAN HIM KATSUYU! LOCATE HIM DAMN IT, THIS ISN'T THE TIME TO PLAY Q'N'A ROUNDS!" she exclaimed furiously making the slugs antennas twitch while it expanded it's senses. The boy was like a beacon to her with his thick and seemingly potent chakra, not normal for humans mixed with even more abnormal and potent demonic chakra that made her shiver in fright for a moment.

"I have found him Tsunade-sama, but I cannot say it would help." she said in melodic voice, making her master glare at her murderously for her words.

"Stop playing riddles Katsuyu or I swear…"…"But he's right here Tsunade-sama. By my senses, he is right where that little cub is standing…" the slug trailed off when Tsunade had thrown her to the ground and stomped to the worried cub who mewled and poked her feet worriedly for her master's absence.

Tsunade pulled the cub over her head who clutched her hair with her paws gently fora firm grip and curled up in a ball. Katsuyu instantly slugged away when she saw her master's diamond mark on her forehead glow for a moment making her sure she was powering herself up and Tsunade's murderous eyes glared at the offending floor tile heatedly.

Her fist glowed and hummed with the pressure of chakra in it and Tsunade cocked back her glowing fist and got on one knee to rear back as much strength as she could.

"Hyaaa!" she shouted launching her fist down on the ground and let out a pulse of chakra before half the village was rumbled with the extreme shock-wave of her fist.

* * *

 _ **~~~Hokage Tower**_

* * *

 _ **~~~Hokage Office**_

* * *

Hiruzen was cursing whatever Yami created this godforsaken paperwork that wasn't letting him time to even think for himself and the conversation he had had with his female student. Her words still rang true in his head and he knew she would bring them true no matter what being how stubborn she was.

 _ **WHAM!**_

He felt the tremor as well as half the village and he could guess it's epicenter as well as the source of the cause quite well.

It was in the village's archives, and there was only one person in the whole village capable of causing such a tremor with brute force alone.

"Tsunade…" he whispered and rubbed his temples tiredly, this wasn't good. Whatever had made her that angry had better been worth it because the fallout of it surely won't then.

He saw an ANBU appear and kneel down in front of him when he started to speak up.

"Hokage-" was all he could say before.

 _ **WHAM!**_

Another shockwave rippled past the village making both the men stumble in the room.

"What the-" was all that the ANBU could say once again when…

 _ **WHAM!**_

The third shockwave along with the most terrifying of them all rocked the village making the two fall on their butts. All the portraits on the walls as well as his stacks of paperwork that made him groan inwardly when tea spilled all over them.

Tsunade was on a role and he pitied whoever it was that had triggered and would now incur her wrath. May Kami have mercy on that soul, for Tsunade would not. That much she knew.

He had to do something before she did something stupid. Not like she already hadn't…

"Lets' go!" he barked out compellingly making the ANBU nod and both disappeared in smoke less flickers towards the epicenter of what was to be a severe headache and pile of paperwork in Hiruzen's case.

* * *

 _ **Author's notes : There is the next chapter. So guess what would happen next until the next chapter rolls out and who it was that has apparently abducted our blonde hero.**_

 _ **There are plenty of you flaming about the rarity of the Sharingan here, but to be honest this isn't canon. This is loosely based on the Naruto world not the same bullshit story Kishi wrote and just rewriting it again and again like idiots. I'll twist his plot points to my liking so those of you who want to read further keep your minds open for an entirely 'fanon' plot. I'll try and cover as many points as I can to keep up with the changes I'm making and most of the reviews regarding this fic have been positive for which I'm glad there are so many avid open minded readers who seem not to mind dark stuff. And just for a little spoiler Tsunade and Naruto will leave the leaf due to what takes place in the next chapter and it will be quite dark too. As I've said before this story will go on to take a brighter route where Naruto picks himself up and redeems himself so the time to get there will be worth it in the end. Those of you wishing to leave may as well do now if you don't like it for I will not change it to meet fan requests. Well I've said enough see you all next time.**_

* * *

 _ **PS : And I am open to criticism and leave them in reviews with your logged in ID's so I may answer your queries too. Guest flames by idiots will just be that anon idiots who'll flame just about everything.**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**~~~Naruto : New Beginnings~~~**_

* * *

 **Note : Not for the light hearted, contains gory scenes. Please leave if you don** **'t have the heart for those and especially do not leave any flames for them. You have been warned.**

* * *

 _ **~~~K**_ _ **onohagakure no sato~~~**_

* * *

 _ **~~~Konoha Archives~~~**_

* * *

"Umph-" our favorite blonde hero wheezed out when he was thrown to the tiled surface harshly. His body rolled and hit the wall with his head making first contact, a sickening crunch was heard all throughout the large room filled to the brim with shelves all around it.

"Well well well, looky what we here. Our proud resident _demon…_ " a female voice sneered down at the dazed boy who rubbed his aching head, trying to shake off the cobwebs he was seeing right now.

"AHHH!-" he screeched out in agony when a solid metallic object, quite obviously rounded around it's edge for blunt impact made contact with his chest. His small and frail body rolled sideways, his eyes watering from the pain that was wracking all around his torso and burning him up from the insides.

" _CRUNCH-_ AHHH!-" he hissed, his neck arching up on it's own when a foot embedded itself in his ribs and made a bone snapping sound.

"Tsubaki, don't go out killing him. Danzo-sama needs him broken but alive, don't forget our objective…" the silver haired chunin behind her reminded her of the mission, and she merely smiled slyly, patting the steel rod in her palm playfully. "…don't be like that Mizuki, you know how much tolerance this demon has for punishments. Nothing short of putting a sword clean through his chest will kill him off. And trust me, he won't even remember his name when I am done with him…" she smiled, the intent anything but nice and the man smirked ever so slightly himself with a nod.

"Alright get him prepped and ready to be delivered to our contacts then. As quick as you can, we need his will shattered to pieces by the time we get him to the handing over part…" he answered back, getting a nod from the girl who turned her eyes at the blonde boy trying to crawl his way painfully out as far as his body would carry him.

"Ugh-" he grunted softly, a foot making contact with the side of his already aching chest and he rolled sideways to face her upfront with tearful eyes full of fright.

"Please, it hurts…" he wheezed out, holding his sides with his tiny arms and the woman merely smirked, a hint of pride in her eyes at his words. "Does it now?" she asked slyly, getting a small nod from the boy.

 _CRUNCH…_

The metal rod made contact straight with his head and his eyes rolled back, a thick rope of blood streaming down his left eyes when he fell sideways.

"TSUBAKI-" her companion shouted, hissing seeing the small puddle of blood now forming around the boy. She merely raised her hand, stopping him in his tracks. He glowered at the woman who merely shook her head.

"Don't worry, he's had hours upon hours of hits like this before on the Kyuubi festival nights. I've seen it with my own eyes, he'll stay in medical care for a week before hopping around like the demon he is…" she sneered down at the small bloodied puddle and he nodded, having seen that first hand too and sat back to enjoy the show.

Naruto's left eye opened slightly for a moment, his tiny hand clutching the necklace in it tightly on instinct.

"I'll wait…I promised…just come back before…I die…" he whispered to the necklace, bringing it close to his chest. "Or…I'll have to break it…Kaa-chan…I'm sorry…I really loved you Arigato…" his voice died down and his body was wracked with the blunt edge of the rod again and again. He didn't even feel any blows now, a little smile coming onto his lips to see the necklace's shine the only thing he saw while everything else in his vision turned red. A small tear rolled down his cheek, mixing with his crimson blood to form a tear of blood and his eyes closed while his consciousness rolled out.

 _ **WHAM!**_

The woman stumbled in between her swing and missed her target, stumbling upon the huge shock-wave that came from above them. Their eyes turned to the ceiling to see the small light bulb bobbing left and right while it's light started flickering to and fro.

 _ **WHAM!**_

Another shock-wave ran through the room, the bulb dying down completely and falling down with a glass shattering noise upon it's contact with the tiles on the floor.

Tsubaki fell down, the rod rolling away from her and Mizuki fell down from his place on the table.

A feeling of dread washed over their hearts while their eyes now stuck straight over the ceiling as whatever it was that was causing those aftershocks was now right above them. And any moment now…

 _ **WHAM!**_

The ceiling over their head gave way and Mizuki jumped sideways on instinct alone to dodge the small pieces of crunched rubble that fell over his head. Both chunins gulped nervously while their gaze was fixated on the small dust cloud in the middle of the room.

The dust slowly started settling down, and they could see the silhouette of most probably a woman kneeling down on one knee with her fist on the ground for support.

A small ray of light from the large hole above peered over the new guest, and both shivered when those hazelnut eyes glanced up in cold fury.

Tsunade turned her head around, looking left and right to find no trace of the boy. She was about to make another hole in the ground to go even further when something wet touched her fist that was on the ground. She narrowed her eyes over the thick and sticky substance, before they widened in horror.

It wasn't what she saw but what she smelt.

The smell of iron, which meant…blood.

She fearfully turned her head around, wishing what she thought wasn't the truth. She gulped down a choke and and followed her eyes up the small puddle that she had just touched to reach it's source.

Her heart stopped for a moment when she saw the scene in front of her.

Her hands shook for a second before she raised them up and took a small stumble ahead. Only a small speck of those golden locks over his scarlet head had even begun to make her identify what that small bloodied bundle really was.

"Na-ruto-" she whispered with a choke in between, her shaky hands slowly making their way to the unmoving bundle curled up on the ground. She picked the frail body that looked nothing more than a lightly stuffed toy dripped in blood in her arms, his head falling sideways lifelessly.

 _CLANG…_

She looked down upon hearing the small jingle and her eyes turned saucer wide. The green…now crimson necklace fell down from his left hand as his lifeless fingers opened up slightly to make the chain fall down upon the tiles.

"My baby-" she whispered with a tear falling upon his cheek, rolling down the crimson skin making a small clean streak upon his whiskered face.

He looked so frail, so small.

Why wasn't he smiling shyly and trying to hide in her arms? Why weren't those adorable baby blue eyes looking at her so nervously yet trying and failing to hide the love in them miserably.

"Naruto…" she pulled his body up and crashed her face in his chest, the tears now flowing freely from her honey eyes.

It was all her doing, she was the one who had wanted to make him a lot braver and independent by trying to show her that he could be alone for a little while and she would come back. It was all to try and make him a bit more happy….

 _Dhukkk Dhukkk….._

Her eyes snapped open and she looked on wide eyed over to her side, pressing her ear to his chest tightly.

 _Dhukkk…..Dhukkk Dhukkk…Dhukkk…._

A spark of hope lit up in her chest, the sound of heartbeat, as small and light as it was….it was still there.

He was still alive, her baby hadn't died and by Kami she wouldn't let this moment cease if she had anything to say about it. She pulled her head up, her eyes now focused and she knew what she had to do. There was only one way.

Her hands held a ram hand seal over her chest to gather a humongous amount of chakra in them. Her hands blurred past hand seal, to complete the jutsu she had forbidden herself for anyone other than her to try and attempt on a critical patient.

" **Forbidden Secret Technique : Mitotic Stasis"** she whispered, her hands glowing a deep purple with a small Kanji for 'Stop' over her right palm. She placed her left palm over his heart and the right on his forehead, instantly Kanji sprouted out from her right palm and covered the boy all over his body. It glowed for a moment before stabilizing and putting him into an artificial stasis for three hours.

Now she had the necessary time to pull him back from death's door, but before that…

Her menacing eyes turned back, narrowing in on the two sitting and stupefied chunins behind her dangerously. The room was flooded with insane amounts of killing intent in a split second making the both of them almost empty their bladders and fall unconscious right then and there.

Hiruzen and his trusted ANBU appeared right at that moment when Tsunade stood up on her feet. Hiruzen scanned the room quickly, his years as a seasoned veteran discerning each and every detail and his heart dropped when he made all the calculations that were all now pointing to only one thing.

The repercussions of this idiocy will be quite too troublesome.

" **You!-"** Tsunade hissed in a low whisper. Mizuki, Tsubaki, the ANBU and even Hiruzen himself took a step backward when they saw the pure malice in Tsunade's eyes. Her whisper right now was as if the Shinigami himself was whispering sweet nothings into their ears, and that wasn't a really nice image mind you…

She took a step forward, the killing intent spiking with it. She took another, her fists clenching tightly as they glowed with chakra at their tips. Another, the ground cracked around the sole of her feet.

"Tsuna-" the Hokage tried to reason with her, and in his wake of stupidity to try and negotiate with his lone female student peacefully he took a step closer to her.

Her eyes narrowed in on his form like a hungry predator, challenging him to take another. Hiruzen knew in that moment she wouldn't hesitate to end him if he took another and stepped back nervously. The matter was out of his hands now.

Her eyes turned back to her prey, who were now on their knees and quivering in terror at the wrath they had incurred within the Sannin.

"T-T-T-T-Tsu-Tsuna-Tsunade-sa-ma, t-the _d-demon i-sn't dead._ Y-you can have y-your vengeance- _CRUNCH…"_ Hiruzen winced, and the ANBU by his side shuddered at what had happened. Even being so seasoned, this was beyond even them…

Tsunade's hand had clenched the stupid woman's lower jaw in her hand. A hard squeeze, enhanced a hundred times over, that hard squeeze, had dusted the bones of her lower jaw out of existence to stop the nonsense she was spouting out of this realm.

"I didn't quite hear you, care to repeat that?" she whispered menacingly, even Hiruzen shivered at how cold she sounded right now. He hadn't felt that terrified in ages, and he had lead his village through two Great Wars for crying out loud.

Mizuki watched on horrified as her lower jaw now wasn't even existence when she had caught her head in her hand next. Tsubaki's eyes widened in horror, she wanted to plead for mercy when she realized what was coming next. Her teary eyes looked on at her for whatever pity the usually loving and caring woman might have in her heart to make her stop what was coming next.

"Mercy?" she asked and the woman nodded in her hand fearfully. "He must have begged too, he is so innocent yet you-" she whispered and Tsubaki's eyes widened. She remembered the boy's plead for mercy and how frightened he looked,was this what he had felt at that moment-

 _SQUELCH…_

Hiruzen looked away from the gruesome scene and the ANBU by his side had taken off his mask to empty the contents of his stomach out. Even the Kage couldn't blame him for breaking his protocol by removing it, he would too in a moment if he saw any longer.

Tsunade traced her bloodied hand across the left side of her face to wipe the blood off it and instead did the polar opposite. Her half crimson-half human face turned to Mizuki whose mind had gone blank while he stared horrified at the headless corpse by his side.

Electricity cackled in her palms loudly, thousands of volts being amplified as she turned the simple elemental manipulation exercise quite lethal by increasing it's potency exponentially. She placed her palm over his head, not letting the lightning chakra take over just yet. He had to look at her to feel the fright her baby must have felt when his life and death flashed across his innocent eyes at the same time. His eyes turned up and looked at her intimidating face and he knew he was done for when he saw her as the image of death itself hovering over him.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" his screams rang throughout the archives while he spasmed violently under her palm. His eyes gave way first, following with the rest of his organs getting fried out by pure electricity a few moments later. She let it linger on for a full couple of minutes, before letting the twitching and smoking mess fall down from her grip onto the floor.

As much as the last Senju heiress wanted to feel guilt, regret or sense of shame over her inhuman action just now.

She didn't feel an ounce of it.

Her heels clicked through the silence of the room and she scooped the baby in her arms gently, as if he was made of glass. Which seeing his fragile condition right now, it wasn't too far from it. The little cub resting atop her head all the time hopped down on the stomach of her bloodied master and let out a crying mewl before curling up her tail around her body and resting atop his chest.

Tsunade disappeared into thin air a moment later, leaving the Hokage alone with his ANBU who had finally regained his bearings and put back his mask over his face.

"Monkey-" Hiruzen barked out harshly making the ANBU stiffen and bow his head while kneeling down quickly to await his orders. "Hai Hokage-sama!" he answered his leader's call making Hiruzen glance up at the mutilated corpses before looking back at his trusted ANBU with a nod.

"Clean up this mess-" he ordered and got a stiff nod from the man. "- and the report of their deaths…" he trailed off seeing his leader's eyes narrow in on him intimidatingly when he remembered he was talking to the man once hailed as 'God of Shinobi' and bowed his head down silently to await further orders. It was high time Hiruzen did something right and this was it.

"There were no deaths-" he barked out, making the ANBU's eyes go wide behind his mask but he dared not interrupt or look up and sat stiff as a log. "-I had sent Chunin Mizuki and Chunin Tsubaki on an important scouting mission this morning with a really important missive to be delivered to our spies in a nearby village. They were supposed to report to me an hour ago but haven't done so, get me a team of tracker ninja and hunt them down or have them marked MIA and put in the Bingo Books with a small bounty over their heads. Do you understand your orders?" he barked out and the ANBU nodded vigorously, understanding the rummaging of this scene under the carpet quite clearly.

"I'll get trackers right on it sir, there were no shinobi deaths here. Just a couple of civilians got buried under the collapsing of old and fragile ceilings. I'll have these repaired too sir and inform the victim's families right away." he spoke in his blank voice getting a nod of affirmative from his leader who disappeared from the scene in a swirl of flames.

* * *

 _ **~~~(Timeskip Two Days later)…**_

* * *

 _ **~~~Hotel Room~~~**_

* * *

Tsunade sat on her arm chair, her fingers crossed in front of her mouth while she stared on at the unmoving form of her baby boy with a crest fallen face.

The blonde boy had been healed by her to the best of her abilities, his healing factor had been the only thing that had kept him alive. Even she had no shame to say her healing prowess had been for naught had the Kyuubi not been there to keep the boy's death at bay.

"Tsunade-sama, you should sleep a little…" a concerned Shizune spoke her mind, reminding Tsunade of her tired eyes and small dark patches that were beginning to develop under her.

"Why doesn't he wake up Shizune? He's all healed up now…" she whispered to herself more than her apprentice, who merely looked on sadly at her master's state. She didn't bother to answer her question since it was no secret from the Senju that the boy was in a coma, for how long no one could tell.

"It's all my fault-" she broke the thick silence that had settled upon the room and the raven girl's eyes went wide in shock which was ignored by Tsunade. "-he didn't want me to go, I could see it in his eyes. He was so scared, I am so damn stupid…" was all she could mumble before her wails had cut off her voice and she buried her face in her palms.

"Tsunade-sama-" she called out gently to her master's whose puffy eyes stared back at her with a small sniffle. "- you were thinking about his good weren't you?" she asked her wisely, but it did nothing to make her feel any better. All that she wanted right now was for him to wake up, or she might never make it any longer from the guilt that was eating away at her.

"I'll jump in his mind-" Tsunade stood up and was harshly forced down by an irate Shizune. "-NO!, you'll do no such thing! Mind walking a jinchuriki is forbidden for a reason, even Yamanaka Inoichi won't step into one, being as skilled as he is." she scolded the woman who didn't look like backing down anytime soon. Shizune knew that talking some sense right now into her was going to be of no consequence since the woman's eyes now rested solely on her son who lay lifeless on the bed.

Shizune subtly pulled up her sleeve to take out a senbon needle poisoned with her sleeping poison and hid it in between her fingers expertly. Tsunade's shell shocked expression was the only thing that stopped Shizune from taking advantage of her tired master's distracted attention right now. The short haired girl followed her sight and her own eyes widened when she saw the troubled expression on Naruto's face, his eyes flickering behind his closed eyelids while his body quivered unconsciously.

* * *

 _ **~~~Inside Naruto's mindscape…**_

* * *

The fox who had his palms placed over the bars of his prison and leaking out as much of his tainted chakra as he could with expert control flickering across the boy's wounds puffed a snort in annoyance.

" **That damned pathetic excuse for a cursed vessel of the mighty Kyuubi no Kitsune-"** the mighty fox grumbled under his breath and took of his large paws off the bars and cut off his chakra with a huff when he felt the boy was now completely healed and wouldn't die anytime soon.

" **You should thank that accursed Yondaime Hokage of yours you puny mortal. For if not for me, your insignificant life would have ended long ago."** he grumbled a little more to himself and rested his chin over his paws, closing his eyes with a long yawn.

"Arigato fox." a soft voice whispered and the crimson slitted eyes of the Bijuu Lord snapped open in a split second with a bloodthirsty smirk flashing across his lips.

" **Well well well, so my jailer finally bestows me the honor to gaze upon his presence personally. I'm honored…"** his deep voice rippled the waters of the sewers under them, while his sarcasm was all but lost to the boy.

"Umm thanks from me too I guess…" the small boy mumbled and the Bijuu let out a soft sigh.

" _ **Of all the containers in the world, I had to be sealed in a child with as much stupidity, innocence and all round annoyance as him…"**_ he cursed the Yondaime's existence again while glaring down at the curious blonde boy in front of his cage now.

"You're the Kyuubi right?" the boy asked and the fox said nothing, his nine large tails waving behind him for an answer which made the boy nod timidly.

"Where am I?" he asked finally, and the Kyuubi racked his mind for a way to persuade the boy to his liking.

"You are at death's door." he spoke and enjoyed the flash of terror in the boy's wide blue eyes.

" **Do you not want to die?"** he asked and got a small shake from the boy's tiny head making him raise an eyebrow and look at him in curiosity.

" **What do you wish to live for then? As much as I loathe my condition, I have to say yours is even pathetic than mine at the moment."** he drawled out with a growl, baring his fangs at the boy who nodded seeing his point, it mustn't be good to live in a cage after all these years.

"I want to see my Kaa-chan once before I die, I don't wanna break my promise to her…" the boy cried softly, his small fist rubbing his eyes off their tears. The fox on the other hand grinned maniacally.

" **What would you be willing to sacrifice for that chance?"** he asked the innocent boy who sniffled and rubbed off a thick tear cutely.

"Anything." the boy whispered, but the firmness of his voice wasn't lost to the Bijuu Lord whose grin widened even more at his answer.

" **That is a big word to say, you do know that everything comes at a price and this time the price will be quite high…"** he drawled out, centuries of manipulation and cunning dripping in his voice to turn this perfect situation into his paws completely to his liking.

"Can you let me meet her? You're so strong, I've heard of your stories in the orphanage. They said you could do anything, can you-" his voice were cut off by the fox's voice.

" **Yes, I can child."** the fox spoke in a warm voice, alluring the boy with the warmth it contained that made his heart warm from the inside.

"Please-" Naruto sobbed out and the fox knew this was his chance.

" **Come closer and I shall make your wish come true, for that will be your price to see your beloved mother once more before you die-"** he spoke, throwing the dice in his board and the boy nodded. He was willing to give anything just to see his mother once more, no matter what he wanted. The fox grinned, his eyes glowering at each of his tiny steps that were too slow for his liking right now but he bit down his words and let the boy come who stopped at the bars separating him and the demon behind them.

" **Closer-"** the deep voice of the fox echoed within the sewers and Naruto gulped down his fright at seeing the large fangs of the fox and nodded. He stepped in, walking in and the fox's tails waved around wildly in anticipation.

This was it, this was his moment to shine.

"Please-" the boy whispered, his hair shadowing his eyes and the fox watched on curiously. These were the boy's last moments in his pathetically short life after all. "-just let me see my mother once before you kill me." the boy whispered, finally looking up with his teary eyes that now had accepted his fate and the fox raised his paw high up in the air.

" **You have my word mortal, you shall see your beloved mother once before I end your life now. As short as it may be, you have my word-"** he rumbled on, the blood-thirst in his voice wasn't lost to Naruto who nodded and closed his eyes to accept his fate with a content smile.

The large paw of the fox came down on the boy's small form, his claw was about to make contact with the boy when it stopped.

Try all as he might, the fox couldn't move his body. Not even a twitch of the muscle was possible at that moment. He hadn't felt this powerless ever since-

" _ **No!-"**_ he shouted inwardly, but his horrors were confirmed when purple chakra created tendrils all around the boy and swirled in a wild vortex around the boy. A shield of pure and potent chakra protecting his mind from being taken over completely.

" _ **It can't be, it's not possible-"**_ he tried to move his claw, just a feather of an inch and it shall be done. He would be in complete possession of his mind with the fear of being controlled by anyone lost forever through the perfect link he would have with his jinchuriki. He would be the all powerful in a moment.

Finally, when Naruto felt absolutely nothing he opened his eyes with a lost look and the fox's eyes widened as he was pushed down roughly by an invisible yet strong opposing force, working as several times the power of gravity and crushing him to the sewer's ground with a slam. He felt his demonic chakra being suppressed so quickly and looked on ahead to see not the pair of baby blue eyes looking at him as he had expected to see.

The eyes were crimson. Even more so than his own.

His horrors were confirmed when his demonic chakra was suppressed completely and Naruto started disappearing from his mindscape a moment later, a look of purely innocent confusion across his face while he gazed at his disappearing hands and vanished a moment later.

The fox was left crushed down on the floor before the oppressing force was removed from above him and he stood up, snarling angrily he smashed his forehead on the bars and his eyes glared on menacingly ahead of him. The image of those three tomoes spinning in the blonde's eyes was still fresh in his mind.

" **Curse you Madara Uchiha, even in death your accursed eyes haunt the very existence of my being-"** he growled out loudly, baring his fangs and slamming his paw on the cage making the water across the sewers fly away from the pure power behind his voice before the room became dark and he retreated back in his cage, his eyes holding even more hatred than before while he closed them and waited for his next chance to come and thought about the new peculiar situation that had arisen over his being just now.

* * *

 _ **~~~Outside Naruto's mindscape…**_

* * *

"Ugh-" Naruto grunted out, his body wracking with pain to adjust to the newly melded bones the fox had gifted him with his demonic healing just a few moment's earlier. He felt his head being pressed into something soft and for a moment he felt so safe.

A smile flashed across his lips and he leaned in to usher some more in this familiar warmth for as long as he could.

"Kaa-chan-" his lips moved on their own and he felt a soft kiss on his head, that made him curl up in the bear like embrace he was in right now.

"My baby, you woke up. Thank kami-" Tsunade whispered, still not believing he was up and alright. Her fears had almost taken her life a moment ago when red chakra had started leaking out of his stomach making her think he was nearly dead and the fox was breaking out before purple chakra erupted all around him and suppressed his demonic chakra back.

"Kaa-chan, you came back for me. Yo-" he mumbled out with a soft sob when she shushed him up by placing her hand over his lips and pressed her lips on his eyes, her tears falling all over his face.

"Shh- I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have left you alone. It was my fault-" he fisted her blouse and started crying now that the fear of never seeing her was out of his heart, he was crying tears of joy.

"I won't ever leave you alone again until you say so yourself, I promise to you baby. Please just say I forgive you-" she pleaded, her heavy heart almost about to burst while she held the little boy for life and he nodded with a thick sob escaping his throat.

"I-I forgive you-" he sobbed out to make her feel better and stop her crying. He didn't like it on her face and he clutched him like a lifeline as if he would slip through her fingers if she let him go again.

Shizune wiped her unshed tears of happiness herself and smiled seeing the moment in front of her with a wide smile. Everything was finally alright, and now he could be with them like Tsunade had wished for and sent her to clear it all out this morning. The only thing left was his signature on the forms lying by his bedside table and he would be all for Tsunade to coddle as she pleased now. They both needed each other too much now to be separated and this was perfect in her eyes, not caring what the council will be in for when they would come across this news.

* * *

 _ **Author's notes : There is the next chapter. I know a bit dark and gruesome but it was needed before the start of the happiness to come in our hero's life. I have already said so in the previous chapters do not read this story if you are light hearted, for this will be flamed by those who cannot take it even I know that. But this is not your run of the mill fic. Now I am asking for pairings so please put in your preference in the reviews and I'll see which suits better. The choices shall be from Kurenai, Izumi (Fem Itachi), Hinata, Kurotsuchi, Koyuki mainly but do put in your choices too. No Fu, Karin, Sakura especially for**_

 _ **I will not write those even if hell freezes over, no offense but I don't like those characters (don't flame for Fu, but the other two I won't even apologize for). This will be a single pairing so harem suggestions shall be for naught due to my co-author's personal preferences, and even I don't wanna either. So next time, the council will be rumbled up and Tsunade will be starting on her life with her baby boy. Please do review if you wish to read any further.**_

* * *

 _ **PS : Naruto's future personality will be reserved, quiet, a little lazy but still innocent not stupid but smart. Only will he warm up to Tsunade, not even completely to Shizune and the one he gives his heart out for, that is not yet decided so vote on that too in reviews.**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**~~~Naruto : New Beginnings~~~**_

* * *

 _ **~~~Konohagakure no sato~~~**_

* * *

The lone female Sannin brushed past the busy streets of the village at a calm serene pace. Her hand pulled up and involuntarily brushed a mop of silky blonde hair by the side of her waist. Her eyes traveled down, only to sadden and lose their shine when she saw the boy by her side clutching her blouse in his tiny fists and trying to hide himself as much as he could.

He had receded back into the shell she had cracked before and she couldn't help but curse the ones responsible for it.

The only difference in the boy was that he trusted her with all his being, it made her heart swell with warmth and a protective streak washed over her which caused her to glare murderously at the pairs of eyes narrowing in on the boy by her side for recognition.

"Kaa-chan?" a soft quiet voice spoke from her side, making her eyes travel down and look at the baby blue eyes blinking innocently back at her.

"Where are we going?" he asked in the same hushed whisper which made her smile and pet his head gently, that she could see he loved if the closing of his eyes and his adorable nuzzling into the touch were any indications.

"We are going to complete all of the paperwork to make you officially my son, we wouldn't want anyone saying you're not mine right?" she asked, playfully flicking his nose to get a soft giggle and nod from the boy who walked by her side with a slight hop to his feet.

"Arigato." he whispered quietly, and she merely smiled and kept on walking ahead to the destination at hand.

* * *

 _ **~~~Hokage Tower...**_

* * *

Tsunade's heels clicking were the only voice in the usually silent hallways while she made her way to the office where the village leader presided in.

"Tsunade-sama…" the receptionist nodded respectfully getting a curt nod in return from the woman. Though the woman's eyes narrowed in on the boy hiding behind her making her bristle in anger.

"What are you doing hiding behind Tsunade-sama like that?" she hissed venomously, only to cause the boy to hide himself further behind his mother so as to not aggravate her any further.

"You have some nerve to try and come in here. ANBU…" the receptionist called out, a masked man coming out the shadows and looking on as to why he had been summoned from his guard post.

"Take that _'thing'_ out of here before he makes this place even more dirty with his mere presence…" she hissed, pointing to the small mop of blonde hair behind Tsunade and the ANBU's eyes widened upon remembering the scene from yesterday and Tsunade's eyes that had suddenly turned cold.

"I'll go, I'm sorry…" the boy whispered, his eyes shimmering with tears of fright. He had tried to tell his mother they won't let him in, but she wouldn't listen and now he had gotten her in trouble too. It made him feel all the more worse.

"You're not going anywhere Naruto." came the firm reply of Tsunade who pulled him behind her while he clutched the back of her kimono shirt tightly with a timid nod.

The ANBU gulped seeing Tsunade's eyes turning downright murderous along with the soft cracking of knuckles that reached his ears.

"Tsunade-sama you shouldn't…" the receptionist couldn't say anymore since her mouth was covered by the ANBU's hand who smiled nervously behind his mask and was sweating for his life now, along with the stupid woman who couldn't keep her trap shut for a minute.

"The Hokage will see you now Tsunade-sama, please go in." he ushered her towards the door, closing it when she walked in but not without leveling another deadly glance back at the woman who had now become nervous seeing the malice in the Senju clan head's eyes.

The ANBU let the secretary go and breathed a sigh of relief before retreating back into the shadows, while patting himself on the back for a job well done. He wasn't quite keen on another cleaning job like he had done a few days back in the aftermath of the Sannin's wrath.

"Ah Tsunade-chan, I was actually waiting for you to come…" spoke a warm and grandfatherly voice from the middle of the room causing Naruto to peek out and see an old man with a pipe settled upon his lips.

He recognized him, he had seen him a couple of times from the alleys when he went hunting for food. He always walked around with a funny hat over his head with some strange scribbling done upon him. But he knew better than to approach him seeing how much the people around him were looking at him in awe and respect. It scared him to think what he could do if he might have offended the man.

Hiruzen rose an eyebrow when he saw a mop of sunshine blonde hair peek out from Tsunade's back, only for his eyes to go wide in recognition. He hadn't seen hair like those in anyone other than two people. The first had been dead for over five years while the second…

"Naruto-kun…" he spoke up in a trance like voice laced with nostalgia and dipped in regret when he saw the boy looking at him calculatively for a moment before he had averted his eyes and was standing behind Tsunade as his shield. It pained his heart to see the boy's guarded eyes and his frightened posture.

"Please take a seat." he called out warmly making Tsunade step up and pull out a chair for herself. She sat, raising an eyebrow at Hiruzen's gaze by her side only to follow his eyes to her side to see Naruto standing there dumbly not knowing what to do.

"Naruto sit here baby…" she brushed his cheek with her fingers, getting a small nod from the boy who looked up in a glance at Hiruzen for a moment.

In that moment, Hiruzen felt as if someone had placed a block of lead upon his shoulders. The boy didn't seat so as to not offend him or his mother, as if the seat was a privilege he wasn't privy to and he needed proper permission to sit.

"Please, have a seat my boy…" he spoke gently, a strained smile forcing it's way upon his lips now that the burden he had been trying to hide from was straight in front of his eyes.

The blonde boy sat on the chair with a small hop, putting his palms upon his knees and only looking at his lap and nothing else. Hiruzen only took in his appearance with his ever curious eyes, the boy looked so much like his father it wasn't even funny. A little of Kushina's traits were in him with the little rounded curves in his narrow cheekbones, but it was clear as a day he took after his father more than her in appearances.

"Hello…" the boy spoke quietly, much to the surprise of Hiruzen who blinked and realized he had been staring at him for a while while he was squirming nervously under his piercing gaze. Naruto gulped down a nervous choke, his eyes darting to the upper right corner of the room, then sharply at the spot beneath the Third Hokage's portrait to his side and finally a little to his back before he was looking down on his lap like before.

Hiruzen was shocked to the core, but he hid it within himself. No one else had notice that little action the boy had done. But he had, and he knew what it meant.

" _The boy is a natural born sensor, it is only natural after all Kushina was gifted in that regard too…"_ he surmised, now narrowing his eyes himself that his guard team hadn't realized their location had been compromised. By a mere five year old boy no less.

He could see the boy was nervous from their presence, no doubt seeing them as a threat if his tightened muscles and nervous eyes were any indication in his stiffened seating posture.

"ANBU…" he barked out, only to blink when he heard the crash of a chair and Naruto had bolted off his chair and straight for the door. A pair of arms wrapped around the boy's waist and pulled him back onto a soft lap before he could go any further than a couple of steps.

"Hey now, it's alright…" Tsunade cooed the scared boy who relaxed and rested his head upon her shoulder with a soft sigh. She kissed his head, nuzzling her nose upon his whiskers to make him let out a ticklish giggle but not pushing her away in the slightest.

The ANBU team couldn't help but be shocked at the boy's honed instincts. He had moved before they had even realized they had to move and was off for the exit. All of them kneeled in front of their Kage whose eyes turned solemn upon seeing and realizing the meaning behind those honed instincts.

Had he been a trained shinobi, he had no doubt his guard detail would be dead or wounded right now. But the boy had merely darted away to make way for a secure place for himself.

"Leave us alone…" he stated coldly, the ANBU stiffening before vanishing into thin air to make the room have only three of it's visitors now.

"I apologize if they scared you child, it wasn't my intent for that…" he spoke warmly, feeling like he was walking on glass shards around the boy who nodded shyly when Tsunade placed butterfly kisses on his ears, much to his embarrassment and joy.

"It's okay, I'm sorry about the chair." the boy mumbled quietly, now settling upon his mother's embrace quite comfortably who had him wrapped like a furry little blanket of joy in her strong arms.

Tsunade pulled out a scroll from her pocket, pushing it forward to the Hokage who took it with a nod wanting to see the reason for her visit himself. He clicked the scroll open, scanning it's contents before his eyes went wide when he unsealed the forms sealed inside the scroll with a shocked look.

"Tsunade these…" he whispered, not believing what they were and she merely nodded.

"They just need your seal of approval. Get them approved." she spoke pointedly, making him let out a tired sigh from his lips.

"It isn't that easy Tsunade, the council won't let the jinchuriki be handed out to anyone without a fight. I should know, I tried myself all those years back…" he reasoned with her only for her eyes to narrow in on the spineless monkey in front of her.

"These are approved as soon as you stamp them, they can only overturn them with a proper reason which you should let me handle or if the Fire Daimyo interferes himself in the matter upon seeing it's importance. That, I have already seen to that it won't happen." she spoke firmly, surprising him quite a lot. So, she had already had this sorted out with the Fire Capital then? With his vote of approval it gave her two of the three majority votes she needed. The council stood practically useless with just being able to call a useless meeting of bickering they would no doubt call for.

But what had she done to convince the Fire Daimyo so quickly to her terms, he didn't know. But it wasn't in his nature to look up a gift in a horse's mouth.

"So will you be staying to take care of him now…" he trailed off seeing a shake of her head which confused him even more.

"No we'll be leaving as soon as the complete documents are handed to me along with the things that belong to him…" she squeezed the boy a little for emphasis making Hiruzen's eyes turn wide in shock. He nearly dropped his pipe there, but held himself firm.

"Tsunade…" his voice turned gravely serious as he puffed out a small cloud of smoke to make her see reason she was not quite seeing yet. "…adoption is one thing, but the village won't allow you take him with you." he spoke in a suggestive tone whose meaning wasn't lost to the blonde mother.

The boy was a weapon that belonged to the village, and they would no doubt pull out all stops to keep him there to keep their stance strong even if they hated him. He was a resource to them in a time of desperate need and the clan heads would make sure he won't be separated from the village quite that easily.

But she hadn't racked out her mind for nothing.

"You leave that to me. Just sign those papers and get all the things piled up. I'll be taking them with me before I leave…" she spoke, putting the boy onto his feet and making her way out with him leaving a baffled Hiruzen behind.

"Oh…" she spoke suddenly with a half opened door and looked back with a coy smile gracing her lips when she threw him a scroll with the Official seal of the Royal House of Fire country donned upon it once more causing Hiruzen to almost have a heart attack seeing the thing his palms.

"Some guests are coming for a visit in a couple of days, you might want to get a nice hotel room ready or something…" she spoke, barely containing a chuckle and let an incredulous Sarutobi behind who finally slumped in defeat and slammed his forehead upon his table.

His kunoichi never ceased to stop giving him headaches, this time was no different.

"Kaa-chan?" the quiet whisper made her stop and crouch down to see the boy's nervous eyes while he fiddled with his feet cutely.

"Those papers were for my adoption right?" he asked her, getting a nod from the woman who couldn't quite see what had gotten into him so suddenly.

"You said you would leave after he got them signed…" he whispered, tears prickling the corner of his eyes while he held back a sob. Still not meeting her eyes, now she understood what had made him so scared.

"Will you leave?" he finally asked, clenching his eyes shut when she nodded and bit his lip.

"Yes, after all us three have to go and start a new life outside ne? Just Shizune, me and you…" she poked her finger onto his chest, making his eyes snap open and a couple of tears rolled down his cheeks.

She wanted to take him?

Take him away?

To an unknown place?

Where no one knew him and he didn't know anything about said place?

He took a hesitant step back, making Tsunade raise an eyebrow. Her eyes widened when he took another and ran off by her side with thick tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Naruto…" she shouted, chasing after the nimble blonde who turned into an alley and starting hopping up and down by the things scattered in there expertly.

Tsunade growled, what had gotten into him? She hadn't done anything unusual to him, she couldn't understand his thoughts for the life of her. But this time, he was going no where.

She pumped up her muscles with chakra, instantly getting the boost to close up the distance between them and pull him to a stop by wrapping him up in a bear hug.

He tried to pry her off half heartedly, crying all the while to cause her shirt to get damp from his wails. She whispered soothing whispers into his ears, hushing the boy up to tell him it was alright. A few moments later his struggles ceased and he lay defeated in her arms.

"What's the matter baby?" she asked softly, her voice containing nothing but concern and warmth in it. He wanted to usher in that warmth, but it made him scared as much as he didn't want to.

"I don't want to go anywhere…" he sobbed out quietly, much to her surprise but she said nothing. Letting him get it all out. "…I like it here, please I don't want to go anywhere." she couldn't help but smile at his obvious lie. No one could like such a hell forsaken place that treated you like the plague everywhere you went, especially after what they had done to him. He cried in her neck, hugging her for dear life while his heart wailed in agony.

"It scares me Kaa-chan…" he finally spoke out in a cry, making her realize what it was all about. Instantly her hug covered him up completely, and she laid down a kiss on his ear and hushed him up quickly.

"You don't trust me completely, do you Naruto?" she asked gently, getting no answer to her question and she smiled. It was a foolish thought to think he wold just blindly follow her out of the village he had been in since his birth.

As much as Naruto didn't like it's people, he knew the village like the back of his own hand. He knew each and every place here and at least as long as no one saw him he was left alone.

But he didn't know any place other than this. The mere thought of what awaited for him out there scared him to no end.

"We are going to a place where no one will hate you baby…" she explained in a soft motherly tone, making his sobs die down into soft sniffles while he gave his rapt attention. She wiped off those puffy wet cheeks and nose with a handkerchief, only to smile at his vulnerable and innocent eyes looking at her curiously.

"Everyone will respect you there, we'll have lost of fun…" she whispered making a small smile light up his adorable lips. "…you'll study, have a little training and we'll have lots of alone time to do what we want. You've liked it with me the past week right?" she got a shy nod in return and pulled his face into her neck while his tiny arms snaked around her neck to cuddle up in her arms.

"Then imagine every day much more fun than ever before." she whispered, brushing his hair to feel him snuggle his face in her neck while taking a tickling soft sniff upon her neck.

"I'm still scared…" he whispered back making her sigh in defeat. An idea popped in her neck and she gave him a gentle squeeze.

"Alright tell you what?" she felt him perk up in her arms and continued on without further ado. "We'll take you there after we get the papers signed, if you like it there the there's no problem. But if you don't we can come back here in a week. How's that sound?" she asked the boy who thought for a moment before giving a small hesitant nod.

He trusted her that much that she wouldn't hurt him or leave him alone, it was the new place he had a problem with.

"Okay." he whispered quietly, much to her joy. This was something she was willing to gamble upon since she would never even let him think of this accursed place again is she had any say about it.

"Naruto?" she asked him in a soft voice getting a soft hum from him. "…don't ever run away from me again alright? I get worried when you do that…" she cradled his head when she felt him nod in her neck.

"You wanna play a little before we head on home?" she asked, getting an instant nod from the boy causing her to giggle at his sudden change in mood. She cupped his cheek in her palm and brushed his whiskers with her thumb. A sad smile was etched over her lips while she watched him treasure her touch as if it were the most precious thing to him in the world. These were the moments she realized how much he had been craved of all these basic things, especially affection and she had a long way before she truly got him all to her.

"Let's go." she took his hand in her own, no matter how arduous the path maybe, she was prepared to face it all for his sake.

He was her son now after all…

* * *

 _ **~~~A couple of weeks later…**_

* * *

 _ **~~~Hokage Tower**_

* * *

 _ **~~~Council Chambers**_

* * *

The council had been assembled after being called out suddenly from their homes for a sudden meeting. The clan heads had been worried sick that a sudden invasion or threat of war was onto them, but upon seeing the civilians there too they had breathed out a sigh in relief. It seemed the matter wasn't of that stature right now, but whatever it was, it was important.

The large doors to the chambers were opened, and all of them were surprised to see a new figure instead of their Hokage walking in. But their eyes widened and each of them stood up in shock when they realized who it was that had come to grace them with his presence.

"My my no need to be so formal. Please do take your seats…" The Daimyo of Fire Country waved his fan to their chairs and sat down with all of them following his lead in respect.

"Daimyo-sama?" Koharu politely called out from her chair making the richest man across the elemental nations raise an eyebrow at the woman's sudden voice.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of your sudden visit, if I may be so inclined to ask?" she tried to be as polite as she could with a smile that a grandmother would grace her children with. But as stupid as the Daimyo may look to anyone else, he was no fool when it came to these fake facades.

"Ah we have an interesting matter that was brought to my attention, I couldn't help but come to overlook and quite possibly get it approved myself." he spoke honestly yet cryptically at the same time. Koharu's smile slipped before she held it firm and sat down with a polite nod. The man didn't wish to answer or entertain her right now, that much she could see as his eyes rested upon the empty chair of the Hokage and the door in front of him to the entrance to the chambers.

"We apologize for the lateness of our Hokage…" a civilian member tried to cheese up to the Daimyo only for him to gain a narrowing of eyes from said man that made him shut up halfway through his words.

"It is quite alright, I am a patient man. Let's enjoy our comfortable time ne?" he asked playfully, smiling in amusement at the squirming civilians who were nervous with his mere presence while the clan heads, nervous as they were themselves held themselves firm and sat patiently.

Finally, after ten minutes the doors to the chambers opened yet again making the Daimyo's closed eyes snap open calmly to gaze at the five figures walking in. The two guards escorting the Hokage merely disappeared into the shadows a second before the man reached for his seat. But it was the person by his side that surprised everyone.

No one had expected Tsunade to attend a council meeting after nearly a decade of having the Senju clan's seat sit empty in these chambers.

But the small form by her side made each civilian council member narrow their eyes in on the blonde boy beside her. Each of them had heard about his closeness to the Senju clan head but this was going too far.

"You filth, how dare you enter these sacred chambers and taint it with your disgusting presence…" a fat civilian shouted. The Daimyo glanced sharply at the man and then to his own personal samurai bodyguards who nodded and one of them left his back silently.

The Fire Daimyo saw the little one's eyes look up startled before he saw them turn nervous and the boy tried to hide himself behind Tsunade.

"I'm with her." he spoke in a quiet whisper, which was heard by each of them with the echoing room making it a bit louder yet still a hushed whisper that was audible to everyone.

"..." the councilman was about to continue but his words died down when a chakra laced sword was placed upon his neck and they all looked on startled hearing a humorless laugh.

"My my such foul words in the presence of a little child. Have you no shame?" his ever playful voice asked the man, who didn't dare to try and speak lest he cut up his own neck from the little space between him and the weapon aimed for his life. The Daimyo waved a hand dismissively causing the sword to retreat when the man rubbed his neck and spoke in a polite tone so as to not aggravate the happy man anymore.

"My lord, you do not realize what that thing is…" he tried to speak but stopped when the man raised a hand to shush him up.

"I know him quite alright. He is the very reason I'm here after all…" the man spoke in his ever playful tone, causing all eyes in the room bar Hiruzen and Tsunade go saucer wide.

He stood up, causing them all to try and do the same before he motioned for them to remain seated with his hand and walked gracefully around the table. Each pair of eyes followed his ever step while he made his way straight in front of Tsunade.

He crouched down to come eye level with the boy, who was looking at the funny man with a fan atop his head curiously.

"My aren't you a precious looking thing?" he asked playfully, making Naruto look down in embarrassment from his words. He wasn't a boy who had heard many compliments in his life, not straight from the heart and not containing snide intent underneath them so it made him a bit shy from his words.

"I came a long way to see you back from the Fire Capital, wouldn't you be willing to grace me with some sort of a gift?" he asked jokingly, his voice ever the playful one. Everyone caught his meaning behind those words, it was laughable that he of all people would be willing to accept a gift from someone, to think he would outright ask him for it.

All save for one.

 _CLINK…CLINK…CLINK…_

"That's all that I have for now…" the boy spoke softly, emptying the little change he always kept in his pockets in the man's outstretched hand. The Daimyo couldn't help but look on in surprise at the little ryo coins placed upon his palm. Naruto thought it wasn't enough for him so he spoke up again.

"I'm sorry, it's all that I have. I spent the rest of my savings on a ball…" he mumbled honestly, making the man close his hand and eyes with a genuine smile crossing his lips.

"I see…" he spoke seriously, his chest swelling with a hint of pride upon feeling the innocence and pure honest selflessness behind that little act.

"You have me much more than I could have hoped for child…" he spoke warmly, stretching his free hand to pat the boy's head who merely shied away and peeked behind his mother cutely while looking down.

"He isn't comfortable with people touching him too much Daimyo-sama…" Tsunade spoke up in his defense and the man nodded in understanding.

"I understand Tsunade-chan, you struck gold this time I must say. Pure gold I say…" he chuckled loudly, his laugh full of humor this time, and she smiled at the joyful man while he walked back still clutching those coins in his hand tightly.

Never before had someone had a nerve to do such a thing in his presence, but to him these coins meant a lot. He wasn't one for material things, he could but them all with a mere blink of his eyes. The intent behind the selfless act made him cherish the present in his palm all the more than before.

"Let's get on with the matters at hand shall we, I request the civilian half to kindly leave us alone for the shinobi affairs that are about to be discussed." the feudal lord spoke dismissively, snapping his fan shut as if they were mere annoyances for his time. He rose an eyebrow when he saw they were all looking at him as if he were an alien of sorts and he looked on curiously at Hiruzen.

"My Hiruzen, if memory serves me right the sensitive matters are for shinobi only. This is a military village after all, isn't it" the man asked, getting a tired nod from Hiruzen who palmed his face with a tired sigh.

He had forgotten the last time the man had come had been only for Minato's funeral and to let out funds for the reparations of the village after the Kyuubi disaster and wasn't quite aware how much influence these swindlers had swindled off of him.

But enough as enough.

"Leave." he spoke coldly, quite surprising the whole council at the change in his tone from his usually warm to the one the clan heads had heard in times of war. They couldn't help but be a bit nostalgic, but the civilian side left knowing the elders would fill them in later on with whatever that went here in their absence and didn't want to make a scene in front of the Feudal Lord himself.

"Now that that is over with, let's get the issue of this adoption of Tsunade-chan over with." he got straight to the point, once more getting some alien looks from all the occupants of the room as if he had gone senile. He rose an eyebrow and realized they hadn't been made aware of it so he decided to humor the people himself.

"The adoption for our little one to one Tsunade Senju…" was all he could say before Homura had slammed his palms upon the table and both the Daimyo and Hokage sighed. This was going to take a while certainly.

"Hiruzen what blasphemy is this? You know as well as we do that thing cannot be adopted. I though it was clear the last time you and Danzo called for the vote on this matter." Danzo nodded in agreement, remembering his own voice in that meeting. It was no news to anyone he had wanted the boy for himself, and he was still figuring out whatever had happened to the last attempt he had made a few weeks back but this was certainly news to him.

"Why can he not be adopted elder councilman?" the Daimyo asked making the old coot smirk smugly while pointing an accusing finger at him.

"Because he's not a human." he said as if it were a world known fact surprising the feudal lord who looked on at the boy's slumped form hiding even more in his mother's shadow with a little knit of his eyebrows. It wasn't anything new to the blonde boy, he had been called many things before. For a while, he had even doubted that he wasn't human himself. But his mother told him he was, she must be telling the truth.

"Well he looks pretty human to me…" the man mumbled pointedly making Homura bristle angrily before Danzo stepped in.

"He's a jinchuriki my lord, as such he cannot be adopted for a balance of power." he spoke with logic in his voice and the man nodded gratefully at some words that finally made some sense to him.

"Jinchuriki or not, he's a child. I say we put in a vote in the matter. What say you esteemed council of Konoha?" he asked, getting a nod from them all.

"All say 'Hai'…" he raised his hand and was surprised when only Danzo, Hiruzen and Tsunade raised their hands.

"Well that was surprising, but we have the Hokage and myself in favor…" he was cut off by Danzo, he was getting a bit peeved by these annoying disturbances.

"That would need the signs of the entire Imperial Court along with your…" the crippled coot trailed off when the Daimyo unrolled a scroll upon the table with all the 57 signatures of the Imperial court in agreement.

"There that take cares of that, with this the council's vote is pointless. So now the only matter is for who it is that would adopt him…" once more his eye twitched when he was cut off by Danzo.

"I must I may be allowed to train the boy. A jinchuriki can be the essential power needed to show everyone the might of the Fire Nation. I will turn him completely loyal to Konoha…" he was cut off by the Daimyo.

"What about the well being of the boy?" he asked curiously, waving his fan for a bit of air in the hot room.

"He shall be in pristine physical condition I assure you. It would be too much of a waste to let such a resource go to waste…" he spoke stoically, making the Daimyo frown.

"Such greed…" he spoke in a dismissive tone when Danzo decided to lure the man in with his manipulative reasoning but Hiruzen stepped in.

"The paperwork has already been signed and approved by me personally. Tsunade wants to adopt the boy, only you say is needed my lord…" he spoke and the Daimyo smiled coyly.

"Permission granted. Now that this is over let's have some lunch…" he closed the matter and all jaws dropped around the council tables in unison when he slammed his ring upon the unfurled scroll for his personal seal and threw it to Hiruzen who rolled it up and put it in his sleeve with a smile.

Heh, he had still got it…

"You planned this from the start didn't you Sandaime?" Shikaku asked, seeing the completely smooth maneuver by his leader who merely smirked and got up to leave.

"I have no idea what you are talking about Shikaku, the council may be dismissed." he spoke while walking out with a smugly smiling Tsunade in tow with her official son by her side.

Sometimes no words were better to slap in those old goats.

"Oh we have no idea indeed…" the Daimyo chuckled, walking out with his guards leaving a completely baffled and stuped council behind him.

Danzo seethed in pure unadulterated fury at being outmaneuvered so slickly, only now did he see where his last plan had gone down and what it was that Hiruzen…no Tsunade had played at. The cane in his hand shook in the pressure he held it with.

She had used her Senju name to the fullest, that sly vixen had gotten the boy he had kept his eyes on for years in a matter of weeks. So many of his plans were crumbling apart…

But he would have the war even if Hiruzen had this battle, that much was a promise he made to himself.

"I must get back to the Fire Capital now…" the Daimyo suddenly spoke, surprising Hiruzen and Tsunade a lot.

"But you must have lunch…" Tsunade's plead was cut off with a laugh again.

"Oh we will have lunch, we shall have a nice lunch indeed. I'll have it prepared at my residence. I'll see you and the young man at the Fire Capital soon. The Senju compounds there are dying for some life in them again after so many years of isolation…" he chuckled out, leaving with a playful wave along with his guards by his side when he entered the small carriage parked out front of the Hokage Tower and his four carriers picked it up to leave for the capital.

"Well played Tsunade, it felt good having played a political card at them after so many years…" Hiruzen chuckled making her smile herself. She heard a small sniff only to see Naruto's quivering shoulders. She crouched down and raised his chin up to see him almost about to cry heavily.

"I'm not crying, I'm happy…" he mumbled cutely, she merely pulled his cheek upon her shoulder when he let loose and cried tears of joy that she was officially his mother and the start of his new life.

"No more tears now Naru-chan, I promise you. This is the last time you cry so let out all that you want now…" she whispered gently, cradling the sobbing boy gently while Hiruzen felt a bit of the the guilt and weight upon his shoulders to life off.

But he still had a lot to make up for, and Kami knew he might not ever make up for it all. But he had to try and make things right as much as he possibly could.

* * *

 _ **Author's notes : There is the next chapter. Hope you all liked it, nothing quite dark about it. The pairings I'm still undecided about so I cannot say as of yet who it might possibly be. A million ideas run through my head and I'm still up for some suggestions. Though Koyuki with a little twist is sounding like a rare pairing, that hasn't been done much. Even Izumi with a crazy and bloodthirsty possessive side or Kurenai with a gentle yet firm side seem plausible to me right now. So let's see where I go with it and please do leave your views on my writing in reviews if you do wish for further updates. I know I'm not a much well known author or a pretty nice one at that but I do try my best with what I have. So thank you all for your time in reading it.**_


End file.
